The Crown star Will Powell, 13, battled leukaemia as a toddler

The child actor who plays Prince Harry in the new series of The Crown beat leukemia when he was a little boy, it was learned today.

Will Powell was just 21 months old when he was diagnosed with the deadly form of cancer, which affects a person’s white blood cells.

The little boy was forced to endure daily chemotherapy sessions administered to him at home by his parents, Andy and Michelle, for the next three and a half years.

Difficult start: Will Powell, the child actor who plays Prince Harry in the new series of The Crown beat leukemia as a young child after being diagnosed at just 21 months old.

And Will had a total of 27 operations before his cruel disease thankfully went into remission in July 2014 and was finally given the go-ahead.

Since then, the 13-year-old has become a children’s “superstar” in his own right after landing the role of young Prince Harry in Netflix’s most recent series The Crown.

Will’s father said that throughout his long treatment, he had “never complained” despite the years it took him to overcome the terrible disease.

He said: “Throughout it all he was a superstar, our little boy never once complained.”

After his return to full fitness, Will’s mother, Michelle, revealed that she was the person who helped him land a sport on the historical series about the royal family.

Heartbreaking: The boy (pictured) was forced to endure daily sessions of chemotherapy that his parents, Andy and Michelle, administered at home for the next three and a half years.

Starring Role: Will plays a young Prince Harry in season 5 of the Netflix drama The Crown (L-R: Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, Will Powell as Prince Harry, Senan West as Prince William and Dominic West as Prince Charles )

She contacted the producers after seeing a casting call for a young Prince William, telling them that while she didn’t have a William, her son would be a good fit for Harry.

Andy said Will was asked to provide a tape of himself before receiving the incredible news that he would be playing the young prince in the upcoming series, which will premiere in November.

He added that the boy, who spent years in a hospital bed, had been “treated like a star from day one” while traveling in expensive cars and visiting hotels.

Andy said: ‘Will was initially asked to provide a tape of himself. He made it to the final four, then both, and finally had an interview with the casting director via Skype.

Ordeal: Will had a total of 27 operations before his cruel disease thankfully went into remission in July 2014 and was finally given the go-ahead.

‘The next day we got the news that it had been successful! He was treated like a star from day one.

“A big car picked him up and took him to London for a medical, and then Will and I were taken to a hotel where we stayed for three days during which he filmed his first scenes.

‘Several other days of filming followed in different locations. I was hooked!

Popular: Will is quickly becoming a household name thanks to his role on The Crown (pictured waving to photographers at the season 5 London premiere)

Andy said seeing his son attend the season five premiere of The Crown, along with other cast members including Imelda Staunton and Dominic West, was “unbelievable”.

He added: ‘We were full of emotion. We had to wait until the afternoon of release day to see how we got back from the London premiere.

“We got drunk until we saw all of Will’s scenes.

Crown Family Portrait: Back Row: Senan West, Will Powell, Dominic West, Elizabeth Debicki, Theo Fraser Steele, Claudia Harrison, Sam Woolf and James Murray, Front Row: Marcia Warren, Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce and Lesley Manville

‘The premiere was incredible; We were treated like royalty! We mingled with the stars of stage and screen, and Will took it all in stride. He even signed the first autographs for him!

The fifth season of The Crown looks at the royal family between 1992 and 1997, showing Charles’s divorce from Diana and the breakdown of the marriages of Princess Anne and Prince Andrew.

It also examines the catastrophic fire at Windsor Castle and the “tampongate,” which first brought to light the affair of Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.