The King’s goddaughter, India Hicks, has touched hearts with a warm and light-hearted tribute to her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks, after confirming the aristocrat’s death at the age of 97.
Sharing memories alongside the announcement, India reflected not only on her mother’s remarkable life, but also on her famously spirited approach to living well.
She once jokingly credited simple pleasures – chocolate chip cookies at the age of eleven and a lifelong fondness for sweets such as Charbonnel et Walker chocolates and Toblerone that were close at hand.
India also recalled her mother’s enduring belief in always maintaining a sense of occasion, noting that even the most ordinary moments were met with her trademark elegance, humor and insistence on being “properly dressed even for the pub.”
Lady Pamela lived a life closely intertwined with the royal family.
The daughter of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, she was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a cousin of Prince Philip, and later became a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
Her long-standing relationship with the late Queen began in childhood and developed into one of deep personal trust.
Pamela served as one of Princess Elizabeth’s bridesmaids at the royal wedding in 1947 and later went on to become one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, remaining part of her inner circle for many years.
She was also married for nearly four decades to famed interior designer David Nightingale Hicks, with whom she shared three children: Edwina Victoria Hicks, Ashley Louis David Hicks and India Amanda Caroline Hicks.
Their wedding in 1960 was attended by members of the royal family, with Princess Anne among the bridesmaids.
The news of her passing was shared by India Hicks on social media.
“My mother passed away peacefully today,” she wrote, describing a life lived to the fullest and without regret.
