A blind ex-serviceman who battled a brain tumour and two bouts of meningitis has met Sophie, the Countess of Wessex at a prestigious flower show.

Iraq War veteran Darren Blanks, from Egremont, attended the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on Monday where he met the royal.

Mr Blanks along with a war veteran, Lewis Trinder, were representing the Blind Veterans UK charity at the event.

The 30-year-old said: “I had a one-to-one chat with the countess. She was very lovely.”

He said he spoke to her about the charity he is supported by, as well as the different types of sight loss people can experience.

The Countess has become the new patron of the Blind Veterans UK charity. Mr Blanks said a bird bath presented to her at the flower show to mark the occasion.

It was a busy time for Mr Blanks as he took part in a 100km ultra challenge, from London to Brighton on Saturday.

He ran 70km of the distance but unfortunately had to pull out to due to heat exhaustion. He was in fourth place at the time.

“I was disappointed to start off with. But it was a fast time and I was in fourth place,” he said.

Mr Blanks has completed the ultra-challenge twice before by walking the distance.

He told The News that he’d like to tackle the event again and succeed in running it.

Mr Blanks, from Egremont, has been supported by the Blind Veterans UK,a national charity, for vision-impaired ex-service men and women, since 2011.

The 30-year-old, who signed up for the army at 16 in 2003, did two tours of Iraq in 2005 and 2007 and was discharged in March 2008.

Aged just 23, he lost his sight to an inherited eye condition - Leber’s optic neuropathy - as well as being diagnosed with a benign brain tumour and meningitis, which caused some hearing loss.

Father-of-two Darren, who served in the King’s Royal Hussars, said: “I had to leave two jobs - at the Iceland supermarket and working as a postman, and I was in hospital for four months with the brain tumour.

Since losing his sight, he has completed both the London Marathon and Brighton Half Marathon and will attempt the Cardiff Half Marathon.

He said: “Blind Veterans UK has given me the independence and confidence to carry on life after sight loss.

“I’ve always wanted to run the London Marathon and they’ve helped me with that, and last year I went skiing for the first time with the charity.”

The London to Brighton 100k challenge is Blind Veterans UK’s biggest annual fundraiser and takes participants from south west London to the charity’s centre in Ovingdean, Brighton.

He has also completed the Great Cumbrian Run and was an Olympic torchbearer for Egremont ahead of the 2012 London Games.