India Hicks talks about her mother Lady Pamela Hicks' life as part of Mountbatten family and Queen Elizabeth II's lady in waiting. The humanitarian, fashion designer, and author was speaking to a gathering at RH, Aynho Park near Banbury
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00:00would be a bridesmaid. And of course my grandpa said we couldn't possibly leave India at this
00:06time. But in fact it was decided between the Indian government and British government that
00:11actually it would be a very good thing. It would show that it wasn't as chaotic or as
00:15in such crises mode as they thought. So it was decided that the Mountbattens would return
00:20to England for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip. And here it says, I wondered
00:26if you would send me your measurements that I could give them to the dressmakers as I
00:30imagine you won't be arriving in time. When my mother gets back, all the other bridesmaids
00:34have had all these wonderful dress fittings and my mother just has to slip in at the last
00:38moment. Oh, I love this photograph. That's my aunt and uncle in the background. And that
00:44is one of the Boze Lion girls. And there's my mother and some of the other bridesmaids.
00:56And that is Prince Philip's best man who was your uncle. That was my cousin, David
01:04Melforty. He and Prince Philip were arrested for stealing one evening. I always look worried
01:12as a journalist in the room. The police asked which of them was driving. Neither of them
01:21could remember. They got out of the car. They were being interviewed by the police for speeding
01:26and when asked who was driving, they couldn't remember who was driving. The Queen's wedding
01:33was obviously, she's still Princess Elizabeth. My mother is a bridesmaid. Look at that wedding
01:39day. And do tell them, when she leaves in the carriage, are you paying attention?
01:45Yes, tell them. Well, after the service, after the breakfast, which of course is lunch, she
01:57goes back and spends the honeymoon at her brother-in-law's. She gets in the car and
02:08zooms out of the blanket waiting to go with her. Someone has hidden her dog under the
02:17blanket as a surprise so the dog can spend the first night of honeymoon. That is an English
02:22story, isn't it? I do have to point out that my mum and I were both royal bridesmaids.
02:29I don't know why that's a point. It's just interesting because I think there's never
02:33been another mother-daughter bridesmaid team. But I do also have to point out we've got
02:37another royal bridesmaid in the room here. Clemmie and I were both bridesmaids to Princess
02:41Diana. She was very young, very insignificant. She didn't have to hold the train. I held
02:50the train. Were you the sweetest one? She said she was the sweetest one. She was chosen
02:56by Princess Diana. I was chosen because I happened to have the king as a godfather.
03:00But we do laugh together as a couple of old royal bridesmaids. And here we are on the
03:06Buckingham Palace balcony. Everybody's smiling and cheering except for my mother looking
03:11very glum. What are you thinking? Look at your face. That's no fun at all.
03:20You're not looking as though you're enjoying yourself. The wonderful part of this is that
03:26my mother said on that balcony, very glum bridesmaid, very glum bridesmaid, on that
03:34balcony, she said it was extraordinary seeing that sea, the sea of people who'd come because
03:40of course England was coming out of a time of austerity. We'd just been through a war.
03:44There hadn't been much to celebrate and suddenly there was a wonderful royal wedding.
03:49In fact, the nation sent in, many of the women sent in their clothing coupons so that she
03:55could have a better wedding dress, didn't they? And they all had to be returned because
03:59actually it wasn't allowed. Isn't that wonderful the nation sent their clothing coupons in?