Royal Profile: India Hicks

India Amanda Caroline Hicks was born 5 September 1967 as the youngest daughter of Lady Pamela Carmen Louise Mountbatten and David Nightingale Hicks {Source}. She has two older siblings, and their families {Source}:

1. Edwina Victoria Louise Hicks (1961)
1. Jeremy Alexander Rothwell Brudenell 
1. Maddison May Brudenel-Modupe-Ojol (1994)
1.  Olaoluwa Olamide Modupe-Ojo (m. 2014)
1. Daphne Modupe-Ojo (2016)
2. Phebe Modupe-Ojo (2018)
2. Jordon Anne Brudenell (1995)
3. Rowan Michael David Brudenell (2001)
2. Ashley Louis David Hicks (1963)
1. Marina Allegra Federica Silvia Tondato (1960, m. 1990-2009, div)
1. Angelica Hicks (1992)
2. Ambrosia Hicks (1997)
2. Kathryn 'Katalina' Sharkey (1981, m. 2015, separated 2018)
1. Caspian Donald Hicks (2018)
2. Horatio Valentine Hicks (2019)

Through her maternal grandfather, The Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, she is a first cousin 1x removed of  her godfather, The Prince of Wales {Source}.

She was named:

• India: for the country India, her grandfather was the last British viceroy to India
• Amanda: for Lady Amanda Patricia Victoria Ellingworth, her first cousin
• Caroline: No idea

She grew up in London and Oxfordshire. Per Mountbatten family tradition,she attended Gordonstoun School, until she was expelled for entertaining boys in her room {Source}. She graduated from The New England School of Photography with a concentration in Color and Editorial Photography in 1990, graduating with honors. She spent holidays on the family's estates in Ireland and in the Bahamas {Source}. 

In 1981, she made her royal debut as a bridesmaid at the wedding of her godfather, The Prince of Wales {Source}

She is an a long-term domestic partnership with David Flint Wood. Together, they have four biological children and one foster son{Source}{Source}:

• Wesley Cleare (1997, foster son, his single mother died when he was only 15, India became his legal guardian upon his mother's death)
• Felix Austen Flint Wood (1997)
• Amory John Flint Wood (1999)
• Conrad Lorenzo Flint Wood (2003)
• Domino Carmen Flint Wood (2007)

She has made a career as a writer, model, interior designer, shop owner, television host, and a  royal commentator. Hicks has published four books: Island Life, Island Beauty, Island Style, and A Slice of England. In 1984, she drove from England to Italy for a meeting with designer Emilio Pucci, whom she was made a model for all of his catsuits {Source}. Living in NYC in the 1980s and 1990s, she modeled for hte likes of Ralph Lauren, J. Crew, was featured in Tatler magazine, and was the face of the British brand, Viyella {Source}. With her partner, David, she has renovated several plantation style guest houses and a hotel in the Caribbean. She owns the boutique "The Sugar Mill", selling clothes, bed linens, and items gathered during her travels. In 2007, she hosted the second season of Bravo's show Top Design {Source}. In 2011, she was a comentator  on the wedding of her godfather's son to Catherine Middleton for both ITV and ABC. She has also done royal commentary and interviews for  BBC, ABC, Channel 4, NBC, Oprah Winfrey and Larry King {Source} {Source} In 2015, she founded, along side business partners Konstantin Glasmacher and Nicholas Keuper, a life style brand that was sold through a multi-level marketing/direct sales model, India Hicks, Inc{Source}. However, in 2019, she announced that she will be discontinuing the brand {Source}.