CHARLIE Gard has died just days ahead of his first birthday from a rare genetic condition, following a legal battle fought by his parents that attracted worldwide attention.

A court had ordered the 11-month-old to be moved to a hospice from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) where his life support would be withdrawn.

Charlie's parents Chris Gard and Connie Yates had fought a lengthy legal challenge to take their severely ill baby son to the US for treatment.

The plight of the baby boy saw hundreds of supporters - called Charlie's Army - lending their voices and money for him to be given treatment, with £1.35 million raised on an online fundraising site.

In a statement issued on Friday, Ms Yates said: "Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie."

A day earlier she had claimed the couple were "denied" their "final wish" when a High Court judge approved a plan to see Charlie moved to a hospice and have his life support withdrawn soon after.

His parents had pleaded to be allowed more time with him, after their earlier request to take him home to die also failed.

Announcing the end of their five-month legal challenge on Monday, Mr Gard gave an emotional speech on the steps of the High Court when he said: "We are so sorry that we couldn't save you."

Charlie, who was born on August 4 last year, has a form of mitochondrial disease, a condition that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage.

Described as "perfectly healthy" when he was born, Charlie was admitted to hospital at eight weeks and his condition has progressively deteriorated.

The couple said they wanted to take their son across the Atlantic for nucleoside bypass therapy, but specialists at GOSH in London, where Charlie was being cared for, said the treatment was experimental and would not help.

Pope Francis and US president Donald Trump weighed in to the debate, with the Vatican press office saying the pontiff prayed for "their wish to accompany and treat their child until the end is not neglected".

The protracted legal battle saw the couple take their case to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court - all of which ruled life support treatment should end and Charlie should be allowed to die with dignity.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene in the case - and the couple said they had been denied their final wish to be able to take their son home to die and felt "let down" following the lengthy legal battle.

Paying tribute to their son following the end of their legal challenge the couple, both aged in their 30s and of Bedfont, west London, had described him as an "absolute warrior".

On Monday Mr Gard said: "Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn't save you.

"We had the chance but we weren't allowed to give you that chance. Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight our beautiful little boy."

At the time Charlie's parents added they believed their son might have been saved if experimental therapy had been tried sooner.

Ms Yates said time had been "wasted", adding "had Charlie been given the treatment sooner he would have had had the potential to be a normal, healthy little boy."

Doctors at GOSH did not agree, with lawyers representing the hospital saying the "clinical picture" six months ago had shown irreversible damage to Charlie's brain.

They said the "unstoppable effects" of Charlie's rare illness had become plainer as weeks passed.

The Northern Echo:

Here are the key events in the story of the 11-month-old:

:: August 4 2016 - Charlie Gard is born a ''perfectly healthy'' baby at full term and at a ''healthy weight''.

:: September 2016 - Charlie's parents notice that he is less able to lift his head and support himself than other babies of a similar age. Doctors discover that he has a rare inherited disease - infantile onset encephalomyopathy mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS).

:: October 2016 - Charlie has become lethargic and his breathing is shallow and he is transferred to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London on October 11.

:: December 2016 - Charlie spends his first Christmas in hospital with his parents putting a festive bib on the youngster and sharing a picture captioned ''our little elf''.

:: January 2017 - A crowd-funding page is set up to help finance trial therapy in the United States.

:: March 3 2017 - Great Ormond Street bosses ask Mr Justice Francis to rule that life-support treatment should stop.

:: April 11 - Mr Justice Francis says doctors can stop providing life-support treatment after analysing the case at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

:: May 3 - Charlie's parents ask Court of Appeal judges to consider the case.

:: May 23 - Three Court of Appeal judges analyse the case and dismiss the couple's appeal two days later.

:: June 8 - Charlie's parents lose fight in the Supreme Court - his mother screams as justices announce their decision.

:: June 20 - Judges in the European Court of Human Rights start to analyse the case after lawyers representing Charlie's parents make written submissions.

:: June 27 - European court judges refuse to intervene. A Great Ormond Street spokeswoman says the European Court decision marks ''the end'' of a ''difficult process''. She says there will be ''no rush'' to change Charlie's care and says there will be ''careful planning and discussion''.

:: June 29 - Charlie's parents say his life-support will be switched off on Friday June 30.

:: June 30 - They say GOSH has agreed to ''give us a little bit more time'' with Charlie. They ask for privacy ''while we prepare to say the final goodbye''.

:: July 2 - Pope Francis calls for the couple to be allowed to ''accompany and treat their child until the end'', saying he has followed the case with ''affection and sadness''.

:: July 3 - US president Donald Trump intervenes, tweeting: ''If we can help little #CharlieGard, as per our friends in the U.K. and the Pope, we would be delighted to do so.''

:: July 4 - Bambino Gesu, the Vatican's children's hospital in Rome, offers to take Charlie in.

:: July 10 - Charlie's parents return to the High Court and ask Mr Justice Francis to carry out a fresh analysis of the case. Mr Justice Francis says he will consider any new evidence.

:: July 17 - Michio Hirano, the New York neurology professor who offered to treat Charlie, travels to London to examine the little boy, discuss the case with Great Ormond Street doctors and other clinicians and examine fresh scans.

:: July 21 - Lawyer representing Great Ormond Street says a new scan makes for ''sad reading''.

:: July 22 - Great Ormond Street chairwoman Mary MacLeod says doctors and nurses have been subjected to abuse in the street and received thousands of threatening messages in recent weeks.

:: July 24 - Charlie's parents announce their decision to end their legal fight, saying: "We are sorry we could not save you." Mr Justice Francis had been scheduled to analyse what his parents said was fresh evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court. But as the hearing got under way, the family's barrister Grant Armstrong told the judge: "This case is now about time. Sadly time has run out."

:: July 25 - Lawyers representing Charlie's parents and Great Ormond Street Hospital are back in court for a hearing at which the parents' wish to take their son home to die was discussed.

:: July 26 - Charlie's parents decide he should spend his final days in a hospice but remain in dispute with Great Ormond Street Hospital over the length of time he should stay there. Mr Justice Francis says if the parties cannot agree before noon the next day, Charlie would be moved to a hospice and life-support treatment would end soon after.

:: July 27 - An order issued by court officials and drawn up by Mr Justice Francis sets out arrangements for Charlie's final hours. The plan will see him move to a hospice, where life-support treatment will be withdrawn soon after.

:: July 28 - A family spokeswoman confirms Charlie has died.