The India Hicks Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

When the future Queen Elizabeth was due to be married to Lady Pamela’s cousin, Philip, Lady Pamela was chosen as a bridesmaid. The wedding of the future Queen was of course a major international event and broadcast on radio to millions around the world. Inside Westminster Abbey were two thousand guests, including seven queens and six kings, and the 18 year old Lady Pamela, busy alongside her fellow bridesmaids dealing with broken tiaras, lost bouquets and much more…

We’re sitting in the drawing room of Lady Pamela Hicks’ home in Oxfordshire listening intently to Lady Pamela’s mesmerising stories. It’s just India and her mother Lady Pamela and Lisa the producer recording it and putting it all together. We’ve chosen to have no studio, no formalities just plenty of conversation and of course tea and cake.

This episode is all about Princess Alice, mother to Prince Philip and of course mother in law of Queen Elizabeth, a lady who lived a remarkable life in some turbulent and challenging periods of history. She was born in Windsor Castle, in the presence of her Great Grandmother Queen Victoria, and later married Prince Andrew of Greece. Her two aunts - Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Tsarina Alexandra - were both killed in the Russian Revolution and her daughter Cecile died in a plane crash. She was exiled twice and during During World War II and sheltered a family from the Nazis. Following a religious crisis she spent some years in a sanatorium in Switzerland and later established an order of nuns, living a life of extreme frugality dedicated to raising money for charity.

As Lord Mountbatten’s older sister she was of course Lady Pamela’s aunt and on this episode Lady Pamela tells us some of her memories of the remarkable chain-smoking, canasta playing Princess Alice. 

The Commonwealth Tour resumes, this time for six whole months, with Lady Pamela as Lady in Waiting to the new Queen. In this episode we hear all about life on board the new Royal Yacht, Britannia, the thrilling adventures in far-flung corners of the Empire and the pressures on the Royals as they made their way around the world. Intriguingly enough, it all starts with a Lebanese boyfriend…

Lady Pamela is first cousins with Prince Philip and also grew up very close to her, albeit more distant family, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret and of course their parents the King and Queen. Lady Pamela tells how the Royal couple met and married and what it was like being on the famous Commonwealth Tour, including that poignant moment at Treetops in Kenya when Princess Elizabeth is told her father, the King, has passed away, and how Princess Elizabeth, still only 25, returned to the UK as Queen.

With Royals, ‘Subroyals’, Grand Dukes and Duchesses, Tsars and Tsarinas in the family, having the likes of Noel Coward, Grace Kelly, Douglas Fairbanks, Wallis Simpson and Eisenhower visit was not so out of the ordinary. On this episode Lady Pamela tells stories of the grandmother she shares with Prince Philip, the extraordinary other family members and some of the wonderful characters the Mountbattens called friends. What highly unusual gift did Wallis Simpson bring for supper? Was the chef really a lion tamer? And what DO you do with a dead Indian Prince at the dining table?

Like so many families the Mountbattens' lives were disrupted significantly in the Second World War with Lady's Pamela's father, Lord Mountbatten, missing after his ship was sunk. In this episode India and producer Lisa are transfixed by Lady Pamela’s account of being dispatched to New York to the house of the legendary Vanderbilts and the extraordinary time she had in their house next to Central Park whilst her parents, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, played key parts in the fight for Europe.

Imagine growing up in a house with a lion, a bear, a mongoose and a coatimundi (yes we had to look it up too). We’re having tea and cake at home with Lady Pamela, daughter of Lord and Lady Mountbatten and India Hicks' much loved mum. In our second episode, India, Lady Pamela and producer Lisa Francesca Nand talk about the exotic creatures that both terrified and tantalised the Mountbattens and their  equally exotic visitors, the curious occasion when Lady Pamela and her sister were left for months on end in a random hotel outside Budapest and much more.

The family and friends who visited the Mountbattens during Lady Pamela's childhood read like a list of who's who in royalty, politics, high society, the world's greatest authors and artists and Hollywood's finest. Lady Pamela Hicks, India Hicks and their producer Lisa, listen as Lady Pamela regales astounding stories of Kings, Queens and lovers and the weird and wonderful life of growing up as a Mountbatten. 

The concluding episode in our two part series about Lady Louis Mountbatten, one of the most intriguing and intelligent debutants of her day and of course mother to Lady Pamela and grandmother to India. Born Edwina Ashley she was the goddaughter of Edward VII and heiress to a vast fortune. She married Louis Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, in 1922 and in this episode Lady Pamela explores how the war years and her role as the last Vicereine of India transformed her mother from a party-loving socialite to the formidably powerful and intuitive force she became.

We’re sitting in the drawing room of Lady Pamela Hicks’ home in Oxfordshire listening intently to Lady Pamela’s mesmerising stories. It’s just India, Lady Pamela and Lisa the producer who's recording it and putting it all together. We’ve chosen to have no studio, no formalities just conversation and plenty of tea and cake.

This episode is all about Lady Louis Mountbatten, one of the most intriguing and intelligent debutants of her day, mother to Lady Pamela and grandmother to India. Born Edwina Ashley she was the goddaughter of Edward VII and heiress to a vast fortune. Already very much in the public eye, her wedding to Louis Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, in 1922 cemented this powerful couple’s place in British society. In episode one of two, Lady Pamela explores her mother’s glamorous years of parties and travels, her life and loves, and the way in which the war years changed her from a party-loving socialite to the formidably powerful and intuitive woman she became.