Lady Pamela Hicks

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Happy Birthday to Lady Pamela Hicks, who turns 90 today! The younger daughter of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and the Hon. Edwina Ashley, she was born, quite suddenly, in Barcelona, with King Alfonso XIII of Spain (a cousin by marriage of her father) becoming her godfather, and was the first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh and a niece of Queen Louise of Sweden. She grew up in England, stayed with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III at her residence in New York City during WWII, and accompanied her parents to India when they were appointed the last Viceroy and Vicereine of India (you can read about her experiences in India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power). After returning to Britain, Lady Pamela was appointed as a Lady-in-waiting to her cousin-in-law, Princess Elisabeth, for a tour in 1952. While in Kenya, the Royal party received news that the Princess’s father, King George VI, had died in London, and that the Princess was now Queen Elisabeth II. Lady Pamela recounts how when embracing the Princess, she realized that she was now Queen, and curtsied to her new sovereign. She later accompanied the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on the 6-month post-Coronation Commonwealth Tour, and was the Corps Commandant of the Girls’ Nautical Training Corps from 1952 to 1959. In 1960, Lady Pamela married noted interior decorator and designer David Nightingale Hicks at Romsey Abbey, near the family seat of Broadlands. The couple had three children, Edwina, Ashley, and India and remained happily married, residing at Britwell House and then The Grove, until his death in 1998. Lady Mountbatten passed away during their honeymoon, and Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA in 1979, during a family holiday in Ireland. In 2012, Lady Pamela published her memoirs ‘Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten’ chronicling her childhood, her time in India, and her time as lady-in-waiting to the Queen. I wish her a very Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns!

Click HERE to take a look at her Hicks Tiara and HERE to learn about the Mountbatten Tiara!

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4 thoughts on “Lady Pamela Hicks

  1. Happy Birthday Lady Pamela Hicks and thank you for the lovely detailing of her most interesting life, so far! I especially appreciate the inclusion of India Hicks’ Instagram posting. India has lectured several times at the Orlando Museum of Art and it’s always a sold out event!

  2. Can anyone provide me the private secretary of Lady Pamela ? I want to have s confirmation on a very important historical fact that took place in Malta on 7th October in the presence of the lord and lady Mountbatten and lady Pamela . I met them on that day and later on I also met Nehru on March 27 , 1958. I am 85 years old , well settled in Canada since 1963 with family. Each meeting was a VERY SHORT . But can establish two most historical informations the world will be interested to know provided lady Pamela had written in her famous Diary anything she remember on “ 7th October 1957 “ ? It will be a great help if she has any record in her diary ? Please convey my best wishes and deepest
    regards . Once the contact is established I will be able to talk about the whole things . With regards , HR.

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