--- title: Prince Harry Makes Pinky Promise With Inspirational Girl description: Prince Harry shared the sweetest of moments with a young girl with spina bifida while attending the WellChild Awards with Meghan Markle. canonical: https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-04T21:43:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:40.219Z og:title: Prince Harry Makes Heartwarming Promise With Young Girl og:description: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the annual WellChild awards og:url: https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e02b763b963f2e9/6989397197cdff212a6b6267/prince-harry-meghan-markle-paralyzed-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-ROYALS-WELLCHILD-AWARDS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince Harry Makes Heartwarming Promise With Young Girl twitter:description: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the annual WellChild awards twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e02b763b963f2e9/6989397197cdff212a6b6267/prince-harry-meghan-markle-paralyzed-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince Harry Makes Heartwarming Pinky Promise With Inspirational Young Paralyzed Girl  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 4, 2018 9:43 PM UTC  Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet Matilda Booth, winner of the Inspirational Child award, during the WellChild Awards in London on September 4, 2018. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet Matilda Booth, winner of the Inspirational Child award, during the WellChild Awards in London on September 4, 2018.VICTORIA JONES/AFP/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 4, 2018 9:43 PM UTC [Prince Harry](http://time.com/5382553/prince-harry-hamilton/) shared the sweetest of moments with a young girl with spina bifida while attending Tuesday’s [WellChild Awards](https://www.wellchild.org.uk) alongside Meghan Markle. During a chat with 7-year-old Matilda Booth—who is [paralyzed](http://time.com/4715028/paralysis-brain-arm/) from the waist down—Harry made the Inspirational Child award winner pinky promise to always keep [smiling](http://time.com/5283734/royal-wedding-page-boy/). “\[We were\] really nervous when we got there but \[Harry and Meghan\] made us feel so much at ease. They were both so nice,” Matilda’s mother, Sharon Booth, told reporters, according to [_People_](https://people.com/royals/prince-harry-pinky-promise-keep-smiling-wellchild-awards/). “He made her ‘pinky promise’ to always keep that beautiful smile.” Markle, of course, made a heartwarming gesture of her own when she gave Matilda a rose to keep for her memory box from a bouquet the girl had presented to her. > [](https://twitter.com/RE%5FDailyMail/status/1037017042224906240) “She just seems so gentle and sincere,” Sharon said of Meghan. “They were just like normal people.” The WellChild Awards are an annual ceremony recognizing the bravery of seriously ill children and their caregivers. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/"},"headline":"Prince Harry Makes Heartwarming Pinky Promise With Inspirational Young Paralyzed Girl","datePublished":"2018-09-04T21:43:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:40.219Z","description":"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended the annual WellChild awards","url":"https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e02b763b963f2e9/6989397197cdff212a6b6267/prince-harry-meghan-markle-paralyzed-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e02b763b963f2e9/6989397197cdff212a6b6267/prince-harry-meghan-markle-paralyzed-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-ROYALS-WELLCHILD-AWARDS","caption":"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during the WellChild Awards","creditText":"VICTORIA JONES/AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5386678/prince-harry-wellchild-awards/","name":"Prince Harry Makes Heartwarming Pinky Promise With Inspirational Young Paralyzed Girl"}}]}] ```