Lady Pamela Hicks, Queen Elizabeth’s bridesmaid and confidante, dies aged 97

Lady Pamela Hicks, a close confidante to the late Queen Elizabeth II, has died at the age of 97, her daughter has announced.

Lady Pamela was a bridesmaid at the Queen's wedding and later one of her ladies-in-waiting.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter, designer India Hicks, in a social media post on Friday.

Ms Hicks wrote: "My mother died peacefully today. Whilst there is no tragedy in the death of a 97-year-old who has lived a full life I know grief will be unavoidable, lurking around waiting for me, but today I am simply grateful that she was my mother.

“And through the prism of a crowded and remarkable past, she made incomparable company, carrying her memories lightly, and always with humour.

“My mother maintained right up to the end, the impeccable style, sharp mind, and effortless charm that made her not only a cherished institution, but truly the last of her kind."

Pamela and David Hicks at their wedding at Romsey Abbey in 1960 (Getty)

Lady Pamela was the daughter of Earl Mountbatten, the King’s great-uncle. She was a cousin to the late Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, and a third cousin to Queen Elizabeth.

Born in 1929 in Barcelona, she was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a grandniece of the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna.

In 1947, Lady Pamela travelled with her parents to British India, where her father served as the country’s last Viceroy, then Governor-General of post-Partition India.

As Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, she was with her in Kenya when the Queen learned of her father George VI’s death on 6 February 1952.

Lady Pamela in 1946, the year before she served as bridesmaid at then-Princess Elizabeth’s wedding (Getty)

She also accompanied the Queen on her royal tour in 1953 and 1954, stopping at countries including Jamaica, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Libya, Malta and Gibraltar.

Lady Pamela married interior decorator and designer David Nightingale Hicks in 1960. A young Princess Anne was among the bridesmaids.

The pair went on to have three children: Edwina, Ashley and India.

Lady Pamela published two memoirs. One, India Remembered, focussed on her time in the country during the partition and transfer of power.

The second, Daughter of Empire, chronicled her childhood, her travels, and her time as lady-in-waiting to the Queen.