Children's delight as Prince Harry visits Sheffield

Lexi and her mum Kirsty managed to get a photo with the prince

A four-year-old girl has described meeting Prince Harry as "better than eating ice cream".

The Duke of Sussex was carrying out a number of engagements in Sheffield when he met Lexi Allen, from Wisewood, Sheffield.

She and her mother Kirsty had waited outside Sheffield Hallam University hoping to get to see the royal earlier.

Lexi got much more though when the prince agreed to pose for a picture with mother and daughter.

Despite the hot weather, Lexi was clear that meeting Harry was far better than getting an ice cream.

The prince was in the city to open a new £40m wing at Sheffield Children's Hospital.

It was the royal beard that attracted one young patient's attention

Prince Harry officially opened a new £40m wing at Sheffield Children's Hospital

At the hospital it was his beard that proved a hit for one young patient.

Noah Nicholson, who is two next week, grabbed the prince's beard as he sat at his bedside.

A laughing duke then asked Noah: "Have you never seen a beard before?"

The toddler then picked up a soft shoe which he aimed at the prince's head, and then hit the duke with a toy giraffe.

His mother Tracy, 36, from Grimsby, said her son had been in hospital for most of his life after he was born at 27 weeks.

He has had multiple problems with his intestines, she explained.

As well as meeting patients the prince also examined the visitors' book and the signature of his mother, Diana Princess of Wales, who visited the hospital in 1989.

He was shown how virtual reality can be used to help amputees at Sheffield Hallam University

Prince Harry chatted with relatives of competitors as he watched the Invictus Trials

After leaving the hospital, the prince met academics and students at Sheffield Hallam University where he was shown a virtual reality rehabilitation project, which uses technology to make it easier for amputees to train themselves and use prosthetic limbs.

He then went to the English Institute of Sport to watch part of the Invictus UK Trials, where athletes are competing to represent the UK at next year's Invictus Games.

Prince Harry founded the games in 2014.