The Lady Pamela Hicks, who died 5 June, 2026, aged 97, was the younger daughter of Admiral of the Fleet the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS (1900-1979).
She was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, thus related to all the crowned heads of Europe, and served Queen Elizabeth II as a Lady-in-Waiting, and was with the then Princess Elizabeth in Kenya in 1952 when Her Majesty ascended the throne.
In late 1953 and early 1954, she accompanied the Queen as lady-in-waiting on the royal tour to Jamaica, Panama, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Aden, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.Lady Pamela was the Corps Commandant of the Girls' Nautical Training Corps from around 1952 to around 1959.
Lady Pamela was a bridesmaid to the then Princess Elizabeth, her third cousin, on her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh, 20 November, 1947.
Pamela Carmen Louise Mountbatten was born in Barcelona, 19 April, 1929, second daughter of the then Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was second son of Admiral of the Fleet the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, GCB, GCVO, PC (1854-1921), and his wife Princess Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie of Hesse (1863-1950).
Her mother was the heiress the Hon Edwina Ashley, GBE, DCVO, CI (1901-1960), younger daughter of the 1st and last Baron Mount Temple (1867-1939), and his wife Amalia Mary Maud Cassel (1881-1911), the only child of the multi-millionaire, Sir Ernest Cassel, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, PC (1852-1921).
Pamela was christened 12 July, 1929, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace. Her godparents were: Alfonso XIII, King of Spain; Prince George, Duke of Kent; Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven; Marjorie, Countess of Brecknock (Edwina Mountbatten's first cousin); and the Duchess of Peñaranda (María del Carmen Saavedra y Collado, Marqués de Villaviciosa). She was given the middle name Carmen in honour of the Duchess of Peñaranda.
Through her father, Lady Pamela was a first cousin of The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021), and a grandniece of the last Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), and, at the time of her death was Queen Victoria's oldest living descendant.
She was "Miss Mountbatten" from birth and until her father was created a Viscount in 1946, when she became the Hon Pamela Mountbatten, and from 28 October, 1947, she was styled Lady Pamela Mountbatten, following her father's creation as the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Lady Pamela served as a Lady-in-Waiting (Temp.) to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
She married at Romsey Abbey, 13 January, 1960, David Nightingale Hicks (1929-1998), son of Herbert Hicks (1863-1940), of The Hamlet, Coggeshall, Essex, by his wife Irene Elsie Platten (1886-1966), by whom she had issue, a son, Ashley Louis David (born 18 July, 1963), and two daughters, Edwina Victoria Louise (born 24 December, 1961), and India Amanda Caroline (born 5 September, 1967).
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