A woman from Twickenham courted controversy after she was crowned this year’s Miss Hampshire.

Charlotte Giles, 23, saw off 13 competitors at the event held in Alton last month to qualify for Miss England, the next step toward this year’s Miss World.

Living near Twickenham Green, her Hampshire success received national press coverage after a losing contestant questioned her eligibility.

Competition rules state contestants who live in a 50-mile radius can take part and Miss Giles admitted the negative reaction came as bit of a surprise.

She said: “My dad works in the county, I know the area well and I have friends in Hampshire.

“I can understand why it would be an issue but I knew the rules when I entered, maybe other people didn’t know.”

She will now take part in the Miss England competition in Torbay, hoping to earn a place at the prestigious Miss World pageant later this year.

Miss Giles is a business development director for her mother’s company Tracie Giles Permanent Makeup, having read classics at Exeter University.

She said: “My mum always did pageants when she was younger so when I finished university, I decided to take part myself.

“This is my first time in the competition and now I am there, I would like to win and raise much more money for charity.

“It is an incredible opportunity.”

Paula Langley, the organiser of Miss Hampshire, described Miss Giles as a “lovely, warm young lady”.

She said: "We met and she had some amazing ideas about raising money, ideas about how she can carry her work on.

“It is not just about standing there looking pretty anymore - at Miss Hampshire we had a talent round, an eco round, an interview round, a public interview round and more.

“There is a lot of hard work involved.”