A SCHOOLGIRL from Yate with a 'heart of gold' is travelling the world raising money for charity and awareness of autism.

Twelve-year-old Charlie Matthews was diagnosed with Asperger’s when she was eight years old after telling her parents she was ‘different than everybody else’.

Charlie, who now attends a special school in Somerset, also suffers from epilepsy and Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and struggles to form friendships or meet new people.

Despite her hidden illness, the youngster has still managed to compete in international beauty pageants, singing in front of large audiences, walking down catwalks and being interviewed.

“She can be having the toughest time backstage but when she walks on that stage it is like she is someone else,” said Charlie’s mum Sara, 41.

“Something just clicks and she absolutely loves it.”

Charlie, who did attend mainstream school for a time, gained the third highest score in her first pageant in 2014 and has gone on to win several titles including Junior Face of Purity 2014, Natural Beauty UK 2015 and now she has been chosen to compete in the finals of Face of the Globe competition in London and Disneyland Paris.

“I am getting better at watching her but every time I see her I am so overwhelmed,” said Sara, who works in a nursery. “She sings with such emotion and passion. She cannot express that in everyday life but it comes out when she sings.

“We are so incredibly proud of her. Doing this has given her some of the self-esteem she has lost over the years back.”

Sara and husband Keyton, 43, had their reservations about the pageants when Charlie, their only child, came up with the idea three years ago.

“She had done school plays and she couldn’t even stand on a stage,” said Sara. “But she was watching the pageants on TV and was adamant she could do it. I told her she would have to try really hard at things she finds difficult like strangers talking to her.”

Charlie’s parents first noticed their daughter’s untypical behaviour when she could hold a conversation at the age of two.

“She was reading at three and was so intelligent,” said her mum. “By four we started to notice she was more anxious than other children and didn’t mix well.

“At the age of six we really saw the differences. When she was seven she started to hear voices and was really struggling so much so she tried to take her own life. She was confused by people’s facial expressions and body language and she kept saying to us she was different.”

Sara said since being diagnosed, as a mother she had grieved for her child.

“Charlie was such a high achiever, we presumed she would be a lawyer or a doctor then all of a sudden we had a child who wasn’t functioning,” she said. “It is almost like grief and you have to accept it as a parent.

“Now all we want for her is to be happy. We have to keep her busy because she doesn’t have any friends, so doing the beauty pageants has been a life-save.

"She has a heart of gold and is such a generous child. Everyone falls in love with her when they meet her."

Charlie, who has raised over £4,500 for different charities including The National Autistic Society, has been invited to America three times this year for various photo shoots and competitions.

She competes in the Face of the Globe contest in April. To follow her progress go to FaceOfTheGlobe.com