An eight-year-old from Camden has told the Queen she celebrates the day she received life-changing cochlear implant surgery every year.

Lily Conlan's hearing deteriorated when she was two, and within two years became profoundly deaf because of a genetic condition.

But after cochlear implant surgery and taking part in a speech therapy and family programme with the charity Auditory Verbal UK she can hear sound and has the ability to learn new words.

At the opening of the new Royal National Ear Nose and Throat Hospital in Huntley Street, Euston, Lily met the Queen and told her that she "holds a cochlear implant party every year for her special ears".

Her mother Angela said: "I believe that Lily can achieve anything she puts her mind to. She is a true inspiration and meeting the Queen was such an honour. Lily's special journey continues to be awesome."

Eight out of 10 children who spend two or more years on the charity's auditory verbal therapy programme achieve language appropriate for their age and most attend mainstream school.