The Remarkable Life Story of Lady Pamela Hicks, a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth
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Lady Pamela Hicks has served as witness to key moments in British royal history. The daughter of Lord Mountbatten and a first cousin of Prince Philip, Lady Pamela was a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth's royal wedding, a lady-in-waiting for the Queen, and joined her on many overseas tours of the Commonwealth.
Now, her daughter, India Hicks is telling her full story in a brand-new illustrated biography: Lady Pamela: My Mother's Extraordinary Years as Daughter to the Viceroy of India, Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, and Wife of David Hicks (out today). "People perhaps see a very privileged life, which indeed it was," she tells T&C about her mother's life. "But there was a lot of extraordinary moments of darkness in there. We should not ever judge before we have a little further look into the lives of people." Ahead of the publication of Lady Pamela, Hicks spoke with T&C about her mother's remarkable life and her thoughts on the royals in 2024.
What inspired you to work on Lady Pamela?
Lady Pamela: My Mother's Extraordinary Years as Daughter to the Viceroy of India, Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, and Wife of David Hicks
amazon.com
$54.99
When I began to have my own life and my own children and I became a mother myself, I saw her differently; I suddenly realized how extraordinary she was—not just as a mother, but as a person. What I recognized was she had always been in the shadows. She was in the shadow of very great parents who were very famous and did a lot of good and did many extraordinary things and also much criticized, but they were always in the limelight. She was in the shadow of her older sister, who was a remarkable woman, very hardworking, became a judge. She was very much in the shadow of my father, David Hicks, who was a whirling dervish of design and ideas and a passion for life. And she was, of course, in the shadow of the Queen—as she should have been, as a lady in waiting. And I just realized that actually her story now, particularly that she's 95, the combination of all of that is very remarkable.
One thing that struck me was that your mother admits she wasn’t “immediately enamored” with being a lady-in-waiting, but she had no choice. Can you tell me more about this?
Her time in India had been very dramatic. Going out to India, when my grandfather [Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma] was there as the Viceroy, she was 17 years old and had no understanding of what she was going to—it was a country on the verge of civil war and she watched the birth of two nations through these very young, immature eyes. That also is an extraordinary thing: a front row seat at Indian independence. She sat with Gandhi at prayer meetings, and I always think, 'how many people alive today have actually sat beside Gandhi at a prayer meeting?'
When she comes back to England, her set of friends have all been coming out balls and getting married to Dukes of large estates—it was a world that my mother, by then, didn't feel particularly comfortable in. Suddenly, she's asked [to travel] around the world, and it is work. You are on duty a lot of the time. You are two steps behind in the shadow. She says it was a real privilege, but I think she was looking for a little bit of peace and quiet.
Your mother was lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth for many years, and joined her on two Commonwealth Tours, which you write extensively about. What is something most people don’t know about what goes on behind the scenes of a royal tour?
People underestimate how much work it is for the member of the royal family, for the Queen and Prince Philip to do seven months on tour, and day in and day out to be scrutinized in every possible way. And, to shake the hand of everyone—my mother said that that was very important; the actual human touch made a huge difference. You go to all these countries that are part of the Commonwealth and know the Queen as a face on a stamp. To actually touch and to realize that she's human again, my mother said was extraordinary for people and the crowds. The love for her was incredible. For the Queen, it came very naturally to her; she was the ultimate diplomat. She knew exactly what to say to whom. Prince Philip was a little bit more of a loose canon, but as a result, people adored him when they met him, because he said exactly what he thought and what he felt. What my mother always says is the combination of the two of them is what was so brilliant and so powerful and so strong.
One of the most moving chapters in Lady Pamela is when you write about your grandfather Lord Mountbatten. What are your recollections of that day he was killed? What was it like for you to watch those events recreated on The Crown?
I didn't watch that episode of The Crown. Of course, I have very vivid memories. They're childish in many respects, and now I look back and see it very much through my mother's eyes. That was my first experience of witnessing the world's press. It was very alarming for me as a young girl. My mother was used to that, but she was just navigating on so many fronts.
She was really the only adult on the ground. Her beloved sister was on life support. My uncle, who she's incredibly close with, was very near to death, her father had been murdered in the water immediately. One of the twins was in the hospital, the other twin also had died. The lad who helped us every summer on the boat had also been killed. We were all there; we all heard the bomb; we all suffered the trauma. But I often think that for my mother, particularly, it must have been really, really difficult. Of course, because she is of a certain generation and a certain upbringing—being very English—she never showed any of it ever. There's this extraordinary, I think, inspiring story about resilience and about how we should all perhaps pay little attention to that older generation who have lived through war and do very, very strong.
There is much criticism around my grandparents, but they certainly instilled in my mother and the wider family the sense of duty and service. And so whatever one can say or people want to rewrite history to suit them, that was definitely this idea that you were there to serve others. My mother absolutely has felt that. So she felt it was her duty to go on the Commonwealth tour. She felt it was her duty to take on all these charitable causes and be the patron of all these foundations later in life.
Lady Pamela ends with three funerals: of your grandfather, father, and then Queen Elizabeth. You also write you learn you heard of Queen Elizabeth’s passing that she had a stroke– this was news to me, I’m just curious to learn more.
When I called my mother, I was getting on an airplane and the news [about Queen Elizabeth's health] came through. Someone I was traveling with had had some inside information, so called my mother to say, 'This is what's happening and the Queen has had a stroke.' I said, 'Should I come back?' And she said, 'Darling, the poor Queen's had the stroke, not me. You must go on with what you are doing.' Just no fuss. When I came back from where I had been for the weekend, the Queen subsequently had died. When I arrived back to the house, my mother was dressed in black, and she remained dressed in black for a period of mourning. And I don't know what the official court mourning is, and she remained dressed in black, even though she lives quite alone in the countryside.
Your mother was obviously at Queen Elizabeth's coronation, but what was it like for you to watch King Charles's coronation last year?
There was a lot of conversation around my mother and others who were not included in that ceremony in the Abbey. My mother says that was the right thing to do. Why would you fill those seats when with the old family members, when you could fill them with people who have done incredible worthy good causes more recently, who would gain so much more from that? It never occurred to her that she should have had a seat there at that coronation. In fact, she said she saw so more from sitting with her feet up and a cup of tea watching it fascinated on television.
As King Charles's goddaughter, how does it feel be an extended member of the royal family in 2024? How does it impact your life?
I felt great pride and great privilege of having had experiences of standing on that incredible balcony at Palace. But the cleverness and the correctness of the royal family slimming down to just very small working group is very important and very sensible. So I am certainly not a member of the royal family now, but I do feel great privilege of having been a part of some of those more historical moments.
It's been quite a tumultuous year for them. And I'm not sure if you have any updates on how King Charles is doing in terms of his health or any insight you can provide there.
With the rest of the world, we watch with such sadness that he finally gets into the role of a King—and [he gets sick]. He is a very different sovereign to his mother. We had this very exceptional Queen who was our rock and our guiding light, but my god, has Charles proved himself. This man—who's dedicated himself to service of love and has worked so hard all of his life—to then find yourself ill, it must be just exhausting. Exhausting because you've got so much you want to do and so many places you need to be in so many things you have to attend. And his workload is crippling. And he's not someone who says no. He works very, very hard, is very, very diligent in everything he does. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for him.
As one of her bridesmaids, what do you make of Princess Diana's continued influence on fashion and pop culture?
Clearly, she was a remarkable and very unique person in the fact that she was very brave in the way she tackled a very complicated role, as Princess of Wales, of then being a single mom. She was very remarkable in the way she was fearless with the way she would reach out and touch people. She was fearless in the way she walked amongst in live war zones. So she was extraordinary. It's slightly disappointing that people focus on the fashion.
It just comes back to people misunderstanding quite how hard the royal families do work. They do need modernizing for sure, times change, and we are moving forward. But I think that the fantastic four of Charles, Camilla, and William, and Kate, when she recovers, is a very powerful thing.
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