A hug from Meghan Markle helps shy Elodie, 7, bloom

For days the girls from the Thursday night dance group had painstakingly rehearsed their performance for their very special guests.

But for one of them it was all too much.

When Meghan Markle walked into the Star Hub centre in Cardiff last week with her fiance Prince Harry, little Elodie Welsh was suddenly overcome with shyness

As her friends performed their street dance routine a tearful Elodie, 7, hung back at the edge of the room.

It took a royal intervention to persuade Elodie to take part, after Ms Markle and Prince Harry broke off from the main party and walked over to talk to her.

Crouching down Ms Markle told Elodie not to feel upset about being nervous and confessed that, although she might now be a famous actress,  “I used to be shy too”. Harry also came across and shook the little girl’s hand.

It was enough to give Elodie the confidence to take part in the routine as the dance troupe performed ‘Boomerang’ for a second time, this time behind the royal couple as they were interviewed on camera.

Her mother Rachel said Elodie had been excited about meeting Ms Markle but was suddenly overwhelmed by the occasion.

“Meghan spotted her standing to one side and went over, bent down and had a word with her. “She was really, really nice and told my daughter she was very pretty,” Ms Welsh, 31, from Splott, Cardiff, told The Telegraph.

“Afterwards the children did their routine again as Meghan and Harry were interviewed. This time Elodie joined in because she felt more confident after speaking with Meghan. It was lovely.”

Prince Harry and Ms Markle were understood to be particularly keen to visit the centre, which encourages children from poorer backgrounds to take part in sport and creative activities.

Elodie, who loves reading and drawing and has been taking part in dance classes at the Star Hub, in the Cardiff suburb of Tremorfa, since October, later told her mother that Ms Markle was “really lovely and really pretty and had made me feel happy”.