Lady Pamela Hicks, the daughter of Lord Mountbatten of Burma who served as a lady-in-waiting and bridesmaid to Queen Elizabeth II, has died aged 97.
The aristocrat’s daughter India Hicks announced her mother’s death on Instagram today as she praised her ‘impeccable style, sharp mind and effortless charm’.
Lady Pamela, who was part of the Royal Family’s inner circle for her whole life, was also described by India as a ‘cherished institution’ and ‘truly the last of her kind’.
She wrote: ‘My mother died peacefully today. Whilst there is no tragedy in the death of a 97-year-old who has lived a full life, I know grief will be unavoidable, lurking around waiting for me, but today I am simply grateful that she was my mother.
‘And through the prism of a crowded and remarkable past, she made incomparable company, carrying her memories lightly, and always with humour.
‘My mother maintained right up to the end, the impeccable style, sharp mind and effortless charm that made her not only a cherished institution, but truly the last of her kind.’
Barcelona-born Lady Pamela was also a cousin of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh – and her great-great-grandmother was Queen Victoria.
She was one of the then-Princess Elizabeth’s eight bridesmaids, with Princess Alexandra now the only survivor from the wedding in 1947.
Lady Pamela married interior designer David Hicks in 1960 but he died in 1998. She is survived by her three children India, Ashley Hicks and Edwina Brudenell.
Lady Pamela Hicks, daughter of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, at her home in London in 2012
Lady Pamela Hicks with her daughters Edwina Brudenell and India Hicks at a service for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s diamond wedding anniversary at Westminster Abbey in 2007
Prince Charles stands between Lady Patricia Brabourne (left) and Lady Pamela Hicks (right) at the unveiling of an Blue Plaque to mark Lord Mountbatten of Burma’s home in London in 2000
Queen Elizabeth II with Lady Pamela Hicks, holding her daughter Edwina Hicks in April 1962
She was present with Elizabeth in Kenya when she became Queen aged 25 in February 1952 after learning that her father King George VI had died at Sandringham.
Elizabeth and Philip had been at the remote Treetops Hotel and Lady Pamela later recalled the couple were ‘the last people in the world to hear’ that George had died.
The hotel was accessible only by ladder, and Lady Pamela said: ‘She goes up as a princess. The King dies that night. She comes down the ladder as a Queen.’
Speaking to her daughter on The India Hicks Podcast in 2019, Lady Pamela recalled the moment Philip was told the news, recounting: ‘Philip just takes the newspaper and covers his face with it, hides behind it and says ‘This will be such a shock’.’
She added: ‘As she (Elizabeth) comes into the room. I think ‘Oh, poor girl, her father’s died’. So I go over to her, give her a hug and think ‘Oh my god, it’s the Queen’ so I go into a deep curtsy.
‘And she says ‘I’m so sorry. It means we’ve all got to go back’… She was only thinking of all of us.’
In an interview for an ITV documentary in 2021, she spoke about Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, saying: ‘[The Queen] looked so frail, just this one young woman.
‘Seeing her, this young woman of 27, utterly alone, I wondered how she’d have the strength to undertake this duty all her life. I think one knew she would, because there’s such inner strength there.’
Lady Pamela Hicks poses for a photo in 1960 with her husband David Hicks, who died in 1998
Queen Elizabeth II and her lady-in-waiting Lady Pamela Hicks in Brisbane, Australia, in 1954
Lady Pamela Hicks (second left) at Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding in 1947
The death of Lady Pamela Hicks was announced by her daughter India Hicks on Instagram
Among the guests at her wedding to David Hicks in 1960 were Prince Philip, Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother, Prince Charles and Princess Anne as bridesmaid.
David was known for his colourful style as an interior designer and had a series of elite clients, going on to design Prince Charles’s apartment at Buckingham Palace.
In November 1983, Lady Pamela accompanied the Queen to the unveiling of a statue of the late Lord Mountbatten in Westminster, at which the monarch gave a speech.
Lady Pamela was portrayed on-screen as a minor character in Netflix’s The Crown, featuring in the show’s retelling of Elizabeth’s wedding to Philip. Writing in Town and Country in 2016, India revealed her mother judged the show to be ‘rather good’.
When Elizabeth II died in September 2022, Lady Pamela became Queen Victoria’s oldest living descendant and attended the state funeral in a wheelchair with India.
But Buckingham Palace phoned Lady Pamela to say she would not be invited to King Charles III’s coronation because of their decision to slim down the guest list.
Lady Pamela had three memoirs published – ‘India Remembered’ in 2007, ‘Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten’ in 2012 and ‘My Years with the Queen’ in 2022.
Her father Lord Mountbatten, the King’s great-uncle, was the last viceroy of India and was murdered by the IRA in 1979 when a bomb exploded aboard his fishing boat.
