India Hicks
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Who is India Hicks and what is her royal connection?
D-U-B-E-S-O-R. I'm coming to you backwards and forwards. This is Rosebud. I'm Jas Brandreth. Cue the music.
Welcome to Rosebud. I'm Giles Brandreth, and this has been a special week for Rosebud because we've been remembering our late queen, Elizabeth II, born on the 21st of April 1926, a hundred years ago. In London, there have been, well, events to mark the centenary, and I wanted us on Rosebud to meet people who... might have known the Queen and could tell us interesting and surprising and unexpected stories about her. So on Tuesday, our special guest was Major General Alastair Bruce, who knew the Queen personally and told his story.
What was the significance of Lord Mountbatten's role in India's history?
It was quite fascinating to me. And today I've got somebody, I think very special indeed, who actually was related to Elizabeth II because she is one of the descendants of Queen Victoria, because she belongs to the Mountbatten family. It's India Hicks. She's been a designer, a writer, a businesswoman. She was once upon a time a fashion model, spent much of her life in the Bahamas, but she's an international person. Her mother is Lady Pamela Hicks, who knew the late Queen well, and indeed I think was with Elizabeth II on the very day that she became our Queen back in 1952. India's story, her own story, is fascinating, and her insights on, well, on royal history, the royal family, indeed about when she was a bridesmaid,
high-profile bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince Charles, as he then was the Prince of Wales, and Diana, who became Princess of Wales. It's quite a story. She is quite a guest. This is Rosebud with India Hicks. Cue the music.
Oh, I'm so excited about the guest. I really am. Let me tell you her name, first of all.
How did India Hicks experience the day of her grandfather's assassination?
See if we've got the right person here. She's so... Well, I mustn't say anything. I must just give you her name. India Amanda Caroline Hicks. Have I got the name right? You have. Why are you called India Amanda Caroline? I knew you were called Hicks because of your father. Well, come on to him, who I met... years ago when he had just decorated the apartment, or the house of, John Schlesinger, the film director. Did you ever go to that house?
I didn't, but when, of course, people say they met my father, I hesitate. I wait to see which of the David Hicks you met.
Have I got the right one?
You definitely have, but whether it was the tempestuous one or whether it was the very charming one.
What insights does India provide about her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II?
Oh. So I wait for that.
He was effortlessly charming.
Wonderful. You got the good one.
Oh, well, clearly this is a story we want to discover. So why are you called India, Amanda and Caroline?
India, because my grandfather was the last viceroy of India.
This is Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Correct. And I was the last grandchild. So I was given the name, which of course, back in 1963, 1967, it was very unusual. Very unusual to have an unusual name.
Yes, because now everyone's called Paris or... Exactly, and it's so irritating.
What was it like for India to be a bridesmaid at Charles and Diana's wedding?
When I was growing up, of course, there were lots of, you know, Pakistan jokes and why you're called Pakistan. And I was always rather threatened by my name, rather embarrassed by my name. I wanted to be an Amanda or a Caroline. Now, of course, I'm irritated when I meet another India. What is their reason?
And your reference to Pakistan is, of course, because your grandfather, Earl Mountbatten, was there at the time of the partition.
Correct.
When India and Pakistan were separated.
Correct.
And the old India became smaller, Pakistan became independent, etc. And we'll touch on, this is supposed to be about you, not about your grandparents, but they're fascinating people. Of course, your grandmother was supposed to have had an affair, or at least a relationship, with the Prime Minister of India.
Absolutely, Nero. Most certainly had a relationship. Whether it was platonic love or physical love, no one probably except my mother really knows.
How has India navigated life between two cultures?
And my mother absolutely maintains that it was a very, very deep relationship of mutual respect and adoration and love. But she fundamentally believes that Nero was a man of honour and he would never have actually physically been with the viceroy's wife.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is India Hicks and what is her royal connection?
0:00–1:08
2
What was the significance of Lord Mountbatten's role in India's history?
1:08–2:37
3
How did India Hicks experience the day of her grandfather's assassination?
2:37–3:21
4
What insights does India provide about her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II?
3:21–3:54
5
What was it like for India to be a bridesmaid at Charles and Diana's wedding?
3:54–4:55
6
How has India navigated life between two cultures?
4:55–5:53
7
What lessons has India learned from her upbringing in a royal family?
5:53–7:23
8
What does India Hicks envision for the future of the royal family?
7:23–1:09:13