India Hicks

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India Hicks
India Hicks Portrait.jpg
Born
India Amanda Caroline Hicks

(1967-09-05) 5 September 1967 (age 54)
London, England
Alma materGordonstoun School
New England School of Photography
OccupationDesigner, writer, businesswoman, and former model
TelevisionBravo's Top Design show (season 2)
Spouse(s)
David Flint Wood
​
(m. 2021)​
Children5
Parent(s)David Nightingale Hicks
Lady Pamela Mountbatten
RelativesMountbatten family
Websiteindiahicks.com

India Amanda Caroline Hicks (born 5 September 1967) is a British designer, writer, businesswoman, and former fashion model. After graduating from the New England School of Photography, Hicks became an interior designer and a model for Ralph Lauren, among others. She moved to the Bahamas in 1996, where she published books, promoted home and beauty products, and introduced a line of jewellery. She also started a local boutique shop called The Sugar Mill Trading Company. As a daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks, she is a descendant of the Mountbatten family and a relative of the British royal family.

Early life and education[]

Hicks was born in 1967[1][2] in London.[3] Hicks is the third child of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Nightingale Hicks. Her mother was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of England and her father was a famous interior designer.[4] She is the granddaughter of the Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma and the second cousin of the Prince of Wales.[2][5]

Hicks grew up in Oxfordshire, England.[6] She spent holidays at the family estate in Ireland and at her father's self-designed and built Bahamian-holiday home.[5] As a child, she was a tomboy who kept her distance from royal affairs.[7] Hicks was exposed to design at an early age through her father and brother, who were both architects.[4] The 11-year-old Hicks was on holiday in Ireland in 1979 when her grandfather was killed by a bomb planted on his boat.[8][9] In 1981, she served as bridesmaid to Lady Diana Spencer at her wedding to Prince Charles.[7]

Hicks went to boarding school in Scotland at Gordonstoun, from which she was expelled for having boys in her room.[2] She then backpacked across India.[2] Hicks moved to Boston, Massachusetts at age 18 to study photography[10][11][12] at the New England School of Photography,[13] where she graduated in 1990.[citation needed]

Career[]

After graduating college, Hicks' father introduced her to Emilio Pucci in Florence, Italy, where she modelled swimsuits.[14] Later, she modelled for Ralph Lauren in New York City,[14] Tod's,[15] J.Crew,[16] and others.[17] She lived in Paris for three years, before moving to New York City for three years.[10] Hicks moved to the Bahamas in 1996.[17]

In the Bahamas, Hicks restored homes, invested and remodelled a hotel, and published several books on design and lifestyle.[7] Her first book called Island Life was a design book with photographs of Hibiscus Hill, a house she designed.[10][16] This was followed by a second book, Island Beauty,[4] and a third book on photography and design, Island Style.[18] Hicks also started a boutique shop in the Bahamas called the Sugar Mill Trading Company with business partner Linda Griffin.[4] The shop sells jewellery, clothes, household goods, and other items.[11]

From 2005 to 2014, Hicks worked with Crabtree & Evelyn as a spokeswoman and creative consultant for home and skincare products.[11][12] The company created the India Hicks Island Living and India Hicks Island Night lines of soaps, candles, and perfumes.[7][11][16]

In 2008, Hicks co-hosted the second season of the Bravo interior design show Top Design in Los Angeles, California.[5][11][16] She introduced her own line of jewellery in 2011.[11] Hicks also became a public commentator on events surrounding the royal family and the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.[16][19] In 2015, Hicks created an e-commerce venture called India Hicks Inc. with partners Nicholas Keuper and HauteLook.[12][13] It sells jewellery, handbags, perfumes, beauty products, and other goods.[12][13] The business grew to more than $10 million in annual revenues.[12]

Hicks also worked with the Home Shopping Network on a line of bedding products called India Hicks Island Living.[17]

Personal life[]

Hicks visiting the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, as part of the Global Empowerment Mission

Hicks met her husband David Flint Wood as a child.[13] They re-connected as adults[17] during a holiday in the Bahamas.[13][14] She was pregnant with their first child four months after moving to the Bahamas in 1996.[3][10] They have five children, including a son she adopted from a local waitress who died of breast cancer.[2][20] In late 2020 she announced plans to marry Flint Wood.[20] She married Flint Wood on 10 September 2021 at St Bartholomew's parish church in Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire.[21]

The couple have new house, "America Farm" in Ewelme Oxfordshire, built on land that Hicks had inherited and replacing two redundant farm workers' cottages.[22][23][14][24] Hicks' book about the project, India Hicks: The Story of Four Houses - A Slice of England, was published by Rizzoli International Publications in 2018.[25][26]

Hicks has competed in several marathons. She also rode a 100-mile (160 km) bike ride to raise money for cancer victims, in memory of her adopted son's biological mother.[2] She partners with a local food bank[27] and with the disaster relief agency Global Empowerment Mission where she is a part of their advisory board.[28]

In 2020 Hicks pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court to shoplifting a coat and was ordered to pay costs and a victim surcharge.[29]

Books[]

  • 2004: Island Life: Inspirational Interiors
  • 2006: Island Beauty
  • 2015: India Hicks: Island Style
  • 2018: India Hicks: A Slice of England
  • 2020: An Entertaining Story

References[]

  1. ^ Lasson, Sally Ann (27 February 2010). "My Secret Life: India Hicks, interior designer, 42". The Independent. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Williams, Sally (5 May 2012). "India Hicks: He was all alone – I cried and took him in". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Coke, Hope (22 April 2020). "Lockdown in paradise: India Hicks isolates in the Bahamas". Tatler. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Harris, Waheeda (24 February 2007). "British gal born into style: India Hicks expands her empire". The National Post. p. PH6.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Muhlke, Christine (19 February 2009). "Profile in Style: India Hicks". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. ^ Shorr, Kerry (27 December 2018). "25 Things To Know About India Hicks". Fort Lauderdale Illustrated. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Haughney, Christine (1 March 2011). "A Royal Wedding? She's Been There". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  8. ^ Saner, Emine (19 August 2019). "The Day Mountbatten Died review – an atrocity that still haunts lives four decades on". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Murder of a Royal". TV & Satellite Week. 17 August 2019.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Macdonald, Marianne (29 March 2004). "Runaway bridesmaid". Evening Standard. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Kim, Susanna (12 April 2011). "Fairytale Life of Princess Diana's Bridesmaid". ABC News. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Ambassadors of India: India Hicks Sells a Way of Life". Direct Selling News. 1 February 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "India Hicks Shares Her 25 Favorite Things". Jupiter Magazine. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Armstrong, Lisa (14 July 2018). "How India Hicks went from Princess Diana's bridesmaid to the new queen of accessible luxury". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  15. ^ Moore, Booth (22 June 2011). "Designer India Hicks's new jewelry line is tribute to her famed father". The Seattle Times.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Muther, Christopher (20 June 2012). "India Hicks is inspired by her father's designs". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Feature: India Hicks: The Isle of India". Muses and Visionaries Magazine (4): 50–57. 22 April 2014.
  18. ^ Gilbert, Sarah (7 January 2009). "India Hicks: Island Style". Princeton Magazine. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  19. ^ "20 Odd Questions: India Hicks". WSJ. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Sampson, Annabel (8 December 2020). "Inside India Hicks' 'tiny' upcoming wedding". Tatler. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  21. ^ Furness, Hannah (10 September 2021). "Princess Diana's bridesmaid India Hicks married long-term partner David Flint Wood". The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  22. ^ "AMERICA FARM".
  23. ^ "India Hicks and Her Family Build a Country Retreat in Oxfordshire". www.homejournal.com.
  24. ^ https://als-sun.com/uk-villas-cont/americafarm#:~:text=America%20Farm%20is%20a%20stunning,from%20a%20Merchant%20Ivory%20film.
  25. ^ Nast, Condé (28 March 2018). "Inside India Hicks's Dreamy English Country Home". Vogue.
  26. ^ "India Hicks: A Slice of England, The Story of Four Houses by India Hicks | 9780847861774 | Booktopia". www.booktopia.com.au.
  27. ^ Coke, Hope (30 November 2020). "Prince Philip's goddaughter India Hicks announces her engagement". Tatler. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  28. ^ "India Hicks - Global Empowerment Mission". www.globalempowermentmission.org.
  29. ^ Wet, Nici de. "Prince Charles' goddaughter branded a thief!". You. Retrieved 28 December 2020.

External links[]

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