Prince Harry pays secret hospital visit to terminally ill boy

Royal spends an hour talking and playing with six-year-old and his three-year-old sister who also has Batten disease

The pair first met at an award's ceremony in 2016 (Facebook)

Prince Harry paid a secret visit to a terminally ill six-year-old boy, a year after first meeting him at an awards ceremony.

The royal visited Ollie Carroll, who suffers from incurable Batten disease, at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The Prince reportedly spent an hour talking and playing with Ollie, who can no longer speak or walk, and his three-year-old sister Amelia, who is also battling the disease.

The family, from Poynton, Cheshire, shared a picture of the meeting to Facebook, showing the Prince tenderly cradling Ollie in his lap.

“Ollie and Amelia got a very special personal visit from Prince Harry. For an hour Prince Harry sat with us talking and playing with our children, laughing and making memories. The very thing our children want the most in life, to be happy and having fun,” the children’s parents Lucy and Mike said in a Facebook post.

Prince Harry also met with Ollie's three-year-old sister Amelia (Facebook)

The Prince first met Ollie at the Wellchild awards ceremony last year, where he won the most inspirational child award.

“What happened that day was truly magical, Ollie used all of his strength to stand on two feet to give Prince Harry a huge hug,” his family said.

“We truly believe in that moment a bond was made between Ollie and Prince Harry.”

Batten disease is an extremely rare and fatal degenerative disease that causes children to gradually decline until they are no longer able to walk, talk or function.

The children have been granted “compassionate use” of a pioneering treatment for CNL2 Batten Disease, which aims to slow the advancement of the disease.