Just where does a dog pee in the middle of a hurricane?
It’s a question India Hicks, goddaughter to Charles, Prince of Wales, mused over as she and her four children, two dogs, parrot and cat spent the end of August holed up at their Bahamian home, waiting out hurricane Irene’s wrath.
The answer Hicks came to: not on her carpet. During a small break in the tropical storm, the 44-year-old model led her pooches outside – among the teeter-totting palm trees and gushing rain – to relieve themselves.
Storm or no storm, life goes on. Strong winds and death-defying waves do not give good excuse for dogs to wee inside, or for Hicks to shy away from responsibilities at her home near Eleuthera.
Days before the storm hit, as many on the island took steps to evacuate, the airport shut down and locals boarded up their windows, Hicks was in Florida trying to find a pilot who would agree to fly her toward the storm.
Eventually she succeeded, making it back to Hibiscus Hill just in time to help batten down the hatches and take shelter with her brood.
Hicks and her partner, David Flint Wood, own and manage an exclusive holiday property near their home.
She’s probably best known for her role as bridesmaid to Diana, Princess of Wales during the iconic 1981 royal union – the then 13-year-old was given the job of managing Diana’s enormous train, an experience that Hicks has described as “not going well.” When Diana noticed the youngster struggling with the 25 feet of white dress, she sympathetically told Hicks to “just do her best.”
As granddaughter to Lord Mountbatten, last Viceroy of India, and daughter to famed interior designer David Hicks and Lady Pamela Mountbatten, the beautiful blond is a bona fide blue blood.
Hicks is in line to the British throne, albeit 521st in line – still pretty impressive.
Never one to sit at home and draw off of a trust fund, Hicks’ resume includes not just hotelier but author, boutique owner (Sugar Mill, in the Bahamas), fragrance developer (for Crabtree and Evelyn) and TV commentator (including coverage of the 2011 royal wedding, for ABC and ITV).
Hicks recently added fine-jewelry designer to the mix with the launch of her self-titled line, available in Canada through Holt Renfrew.
A scholar of photography and art at postsecondary school, Hicks drew inspiration from her father’s body of work, as well as her life in the Bahamas, when developing her new line of highend accessories. Pieces range in price from a few hundred dollars to thousands and are made primarily from silver and diamonds.
For years Hicks says she has been developing her own unique esthetic.
The line, which includes three subsections – Island Life, Love Letters and Hicks on Hicks – plays on her father’s ideas about design, but also evokes strong images of beach life (think intricately crafted trinkets made in the images of coral and starfish, as well as ’60s-infused geometric shapes).
