Who is India Hicks? As she celebrates her 56th birthday, we 会合，会う the bridesmaid to Charles and Diana who 生き残るd to be with us today because she liked to watch Laurel and Hardy...

• e-mail

She might not have received an 招待 to her Godfather's 載冠（式）／即位（式）, but there are few 人物／姿／数字s more closely associated with the 王室の Family than India Hicks.

India, who turns 56 today, is the granddaughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, uncle to? and 助言者 to Prince Philip, and was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Charles and Diana Spencer.

She has made her 指名する as a model, 内部の designer and 商売／仕事 woman, and lives in the Bahamas with her long-time partner-turned husband David Flint 支持を得ようと努めるd.

India Hicks pictured at home in the Bahamas

India Hicks 迎える／歓迎するs her Godfather, Prince Charles, at a charity polo match at Cirencester Park in Gloucestershire, 2001

India was a bridesmaid at the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. She is? second left. Also pictured are Sarah-Jane Gaslee, the bride, Clementine Hambro and Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth

India was one of the five bridesmaids at the 1981 wedding of Diana and Charles, who is her godfather and second cousin.

She is the daughter of 内部の decorator David Hicks and Lady Pamela Hicks, one of the late Queen's former ladies-in-waiting and the daughter of the last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten.

She is still with us today thanks only to a 一打／打撃 of luck. She had decided to stay at home and watch a Laurel and Hardy film rather than join Mountbatten and others for a Carlingford Lough fishing trip on August 27, 1979.

An アイルランド共和国軍 爆弾 blew the boat to pieces 殺人，大当り Mountbatten, the boy who would have been her uncle Nicholas Knatchbull, and others 船内に the boat.?

India was 老年の 13, when Charles phoned her 本人自身で and asked if she would be a bridesmaid at his 1979 wedding to Diana.

'I had to practise,' she later 解任するd.

'It was during these rehearsals I got to know Diana, whom I first met at a dress fitting. She always seemed more like a 長，率いる girl than a princess-in-waiting, with never a shy moment in 私的な.'

India has kept her bridesmaid's 花冠 from the 儀式 at St Paul's in its 初めの box.

In November she 地位，任命するd a photograph of her dress ? still i n perfect 条件 ? on social マスコミ.

It was pictured と一緒に another 王室の bridesmaid dress - one worn by her mother who, as?Lady Pamela Mountbatten, had been a bridesmaid to the late Queen Elizabeth.?

India was? educated at £40,000-a-year Gordonstoun, 近づく Elgin, Scotland, until she was expelled for 招待するing boys to her room.

In the 1990s, India?modelled for brands 含むing Ralph Lauren, Tod's, J.乗組員, and many others

India married her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 partner David Flint 支持を得ようと努めるd in 2021 in Oxfordshire

India remembered Wesley as a spirited child, climbing on roofs with her own son, Felix, becoming の近くに friends from a young age (seen)

Wesley was 可決する・採択するd when he was 12, after his mother Lynne- a Bahamian waitress- sadly died of breast 癌 (seen as a baby)

India often 株 family pictures of the whole family enjoying time together, 含むing this one featuring daughter 支配 Flint-支持を得ようと努めるd, left, and her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks

At the age of 18, India?moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to 熟考する／考慮する photograph.?

After 卒業生（する）ing in 1990, her father introduced her to the Emilio Pucci brand in Florence, Italy, where she modelled swimsuits.?Later, she modelled for brands 含むing Ralph Lauren, Tod's, J. 乗組員, and many others.

India married her long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 partner David Flint 支持を得ようと努めるd, in 2021 at the age of 54. The pair had moved to the Caribbean together in 1996.

India had been with her partner for 26 years before they 交流d 公約するs at a small Oxfordshire church.

They already had five children together.

Taking place as Covid 制限s were coming to an end, the wedding had just 30 guests.

にもかかわらず her family and 王室の 関係s, the socialite has worked to earn her keep.

She became a designer and businesswoman, 開始する，打ち上げるing a 高級な lifestyle 商売／仕事 before の近くにing it 負かす／撃墜する in 2022 to spend more time with her children: Wesley, 26, Felix, 24, Amory, 22, Conrad, 18, and 支配, 13.

Wesley was 可決する・採択するd after his mother died of 癌.??

India first met his mother Lynne while she was working as a waitress at a 地元の restaurant, the pair became friend and India agreed to help with the boy's しつけ.

Lynne, a 選び出す／独身 mother had 生き残るd on a low waitressing 行う, and had alrady lost both her younger and older sister to breast 癌 before she too passed away from the 病気.

'Lynne had other children and many different 職業s,' she 以前 told MailOnline. 'I was lucky enough to have the space for an extra child.

'I had care in the home. It was 平易な for Wes to be dropped off at our home, which was better than him going to childcare.'

India 可決する・採択するd Wesley, 支援する 列／漕ぐ／騒動 権利, after his waitress mother died

India 賞賛するd her godfather King Charles for his 'patience' with her as a child and paid 尊敬の印 to his work through The Prince's 信用

The designer has paid 尊敬の印 to her godfather's work with the Prince's 信用 while wading into the 審議 over 載冠（式）／即位（式） 招待s

Lord Mountbatten with his grandchildren on holiday in Ireland, 1974. India Hicks is pictured in the centre in 前線 of her grandfather

India (standing third from left) as a bridesmaid at the wedding of then Prince Charles and Diana

On the eve of the 載冠（式）／即位（式）, she said her godfather was 'considerate' and '患者' - にもかかわらず not receiving an 招待.

India 地位，任命するd photos on her Instagram story showing herself outside Buckingham Palace and she also appeared on Australian TV to discuss all things 王室の ahead of the 儀式 in Westminster Abbey during his 載冠（式）／即位（式）.

The designer tagged The Prince's 信用, the charity her godfather 設立するd, in a ビデオ of herself speaking, with the words: 'Inclusivity, equality, 多様制'.

Her visit to the UK （機の）カム after she 地位，任命するd a photo of herself on Instagram with a caption 賞賛するing King Charles's 招待s to the 載冠（式）／即位（式） which are based on 'meritocracy' as she failed to make the 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）.

India's mother Lady Pamela is the daughter of Earl Mountbatten, the brother of Prince Philip's mother.

The 11-year-old Lady Hicks was on holiday in Ireland in 1979 when her grandfather was killed by a 爆弾 工場／植物d on his boat

India 辛うじて escaped the 爆破 herself after choosing to stay and watch a Laurel and Hardy film rather than join her grandfather, cousins, aunt and uncle on the boat.

She serves her godfather's charity, the Prince's 信用, as a patron for Women Supporting Women.

After …に出席するing the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year, India 明らかにする／漏らすd that she would be 請け負うing a bicycle ride from Buckingham Palace to Windsor 城 in a 企て，努力，提案 to raise money for the 君主's charity, The Prince's 信用.

India's work for her godfather's charity 存在するs と一緒に her support for 全世界の Empowerment 使節団, a nonprofit that 補助装置s in the wake of international 災害s.

In May last year, she visited ウクライナ共和国 と一緒に her son in support of the organisation, 輸送（する）ing 着せる／賦与するing and spending time in a therapy 避難所 helping Ukrainian children.

Lady Pamela Hicks was one of the bride smaids at the wedding of Prince Philip to Princess Elizabeth in 1947

India with her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks in 2021. The two are comparing their 各々の bridesmaid dresses

India Hicks on the beach at Harbour Island, where she has lived since 1996, pictured in 2001

Pictures on Instagram of the 所有物／資産／財産, designed by India and her husband, David Flint 支持を得ようと努めるd, show white-painted 塀で囲むs and comfortable furnishings

'Designed to look as though it has alway s been there. に引き続いて 熱帯の traditions we built the house on four pylons, to remain as 冷静な／正味の as possible throughout the year.

'The sitting room and two large guest rooms are upstairs, leaving the dining room, kitchen, and remaining bedrooms downstairs.

'Late morning you might want to wander 負かす／撃墜する the 私的な path to three miles of pink sand beach and 嘘（をつく） under our thatched cabanas on the sunbeds, or else there is a hammock slung between two trees, in the garden, somewhere for a siesta after a long lunch.