The India Hicks Podcast

From a life shaped by duty, service, family and faith, Lady Pamela shares the values that have guided her through extraordinary chapters of history: unwavering loyalty, quiet endurance, curiosity, kindness, and a deep belief in understanding others. With warmth, wit and wisdom, she reflects on the lessons passed down through generations which have guided her through her extraordinary 96 years — and why, even in grief, we must keep moving forward, always turning our faces to the sun. 'Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you'.

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.

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.

We're sitting in the drawing room of Lady Pamela Hicks' home in Oxfordshire hearing Lady Pamela's stories of living through some pretty extraordinary and now historic times. It's just India, Lady Pamela and Lisa the producer; no studio, no formalities just conversation, tea and cake. In the last of our Viceroy's House episodes Lady Pamela recalls the sadness of coming to the end of their stay in India, a country she had grown to love, leaving the many people who had become very dear to her and the family and their bittersweet arrival back home.

In the second Viceroy's House episode Lady Pamela regales more of her incredible memories as a teenager living in India when her father, Lord Mountbatten, was given what he knew was the 'impossible job' as the last Viceroy of India. In the now very tense build up to Indian partition 18 year old Lady Pamela and her mother Lady Louis Mountbatten are still working in the refugee camps, have become close friends with Gandhi and Indian Prime Minister Nehru and witness some of the intense highs and lows of this challenging time.

This is a special episode of the India Hicks Podcast on which India tells us of the traumatic events surrounding the hurricane in the Bahamas, the place she calls home, and how we can support these wonderful islands and people. Amongst many organisations, charities and foundations offering support, we are highlighting the group that was first to deliver relief to those hit hardest by Hurricane Dorian, a team of private sector captains and medics dispatched immediately into those hard to reach areas and the NGO founded by the heroes from the North Eleuthera evacuee efforts. Please consider donating to their essential work, as they continue to strive for long-term support on the ground as communities begin to rebuild. www.idearelief.org

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.

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.

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.