Living La Dolce Vita On Harbour Island India Hicks
Designer, humanitarian and mother to five beautiful children, India Hicks shares her life on Harbour Island, a place she has called home for the past 26 years.
Do you remember what you did the summer before you turned 13? India Hicks found herself in a scene borrowed from the pages of a fairy tale, as a horse-drawn golden carriage transported her to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where she served as a bridesmaid to Princess Diana in her marriage to Prince Charles. As you might imagine, it’s a moment etched vividly and forever in her mind — a rare moment where an individual reminiscence intersects with the national collective memory.
From that 12-year-old girl, India’s life has carried her from one island to another, as she crafts a fairy-tale life for herself on Harbour Island, an island in northeastern Bahamas. Known perhaps most famously as a vacation spot for billionaires, Harbour Island’s New England–style architecture, pink sand, swaying palm trees and turquoise water create a dreamscape of colours, scents and scenes, and provide an endless source of inspiration for India’s creative designs.
As the daughter of interior designer David Nightingale Hicks and Lady Pamela Mountbatten, second cousin to Prince Charles and lady-in-waiting to the Queen of England, India has learned from both of her parents’ dynamic lives. And family connection is what continues to anchor India, both physically and spiritually, to this day. The mother to five children — daughter Domino, sons Felix, Amory, Conrad, and adopted Bahamian son Wesley, all of whose parenting India shares with her long-time partner and now-husband David Flint Wood — she takes pride in the unique island life in which her children have been raised. “I like that I have created my own island life. I recognize how lucky and privileged I’ve been in my life. If I had lived a more traditional life, I would have never met a lot of the people whom I now consider my very close friends — and as the world becomes more and more unsettled, being part of the community is very nice.”
India has taken the notion of community to heart and has involved herself in the Harbour Island community by sharing her philanthropy as well as her creative design work. For example, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, India co-founded the Harbour Island Food Bank, an organization that has provided the island with food when the lockdown exacerbated food insecurities for many islanders. She also serves as an executive board member of the Global Empowerment Mission and as an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, both of which provide her with meaningful platforms to passionately pursue her aim of shining light on important issues, including, most recently, the war-crime atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine.
An unexpected life event to come out of the pandemic was India’s decision to marry her long-time partner, David Flint Wood, after a 26- year (and counting) relationship. Their marriage ceremony was everything she had dreamed of and more. “It really was the happiest day of my life.” The best fairy tales need not involve horse-drawn golden carriages after all.
India spoke to us from her home on Harbour Island about her dynamic family, the greatest joys of motherhood, her philanthropic work and, of course, that horse-drawn golden carriage.
Q: There are very few people who have seen and experienced the incredible life you’ve had thus far. What have been the most memorable and important experiences for you?
A: That’s a really interesting question. I think I’ve had a really unexpected life. There are definitely standout moments visually, and one would obviously be riding in a golden carriage at an early age as a bridesmaid to Princess Diana and Prince Charles. That was a pretty spectacular fairy-tale moment for any 12-year-old girl, to be in a horse-drawn golden carriage.
“I Think Those Three Visuals Are Very Strong: Golden Carriage, Island Life, And Standing In Destroyed And Devastated Cities”
I think another visual that stands out is island life. This idea that we’ve created a home, and in that home there are children, dogs, and friends and family — I visualize our home, with the palm trees, animals, and children running around, as another standout. And I think, much more recently, what has been very impactful is the visual of me standing in combat gear in these destroyed cities in Ukraine. And I think that has had a very profound effect on me. There are times now that I think, How is the value of my life really being spent? and Am I spending my time in the right way? Having seen people lose everything, you re-evaluate yourself a lot.
So I think those three visuals are very strong: golden carriage, island life, and standing in destroyed and devastated cities.
Q: What a contrast.
A: Yes. I think we’re in a very strange time right now, where some very big decisions have been made about the way women should lead their lives. I think America, as a superpower, is very influential, and the message that they’ve just sent out is a shattering one, and as women right now, it’s very important to have our own voice. And also, strangely, at this time in my mid-50s, it’s a time where many women find their children are growing up and their role as a mother is less needed, and they find themselves at a loss: What do we do next? How can we make our own chapter?
I think it’s very important we move our lives forward in a very productive way, and I’ve found that for me it’s philanthropic work. I think many women could also get involved — perhaps they don’t necessarily want to be in a war zone, but I think there are many things that we could be doing or courses that we could be championing or using the experiences we’ve had. Living 54 years, now, I do have experience to draw from, so I think it’s very important that we move our lives forward.
Q: Yes, the news of the U.S Supreme’s Court overturning Roe v. Wade was disheartening, and I imagine this is close to your heart as someone who advocates for women. Your family has such a distinguished history, and your mom has had an extraordinary life. What have you learned from her?
A: That’s something very interesting, because my mother has lived much of her life in the shadow of very great people. She grew up in the shadow of her parents, who were extraordinary people. The fact is that they were war heroes, very dynamic, and they were very famous in their time. So, she had the shadow of that, and then she was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, so always two steps back, and very much in the shadow of the Queen.
Then she married my father, who’s a very dynamic, flamboyant character who was always in the front, so she was always in the shadow of him. She’s a very private and fascinating character, but she’s very modern in her own thinking and very well-read. You could talk to her about almost anything, and she would know exactly about the timeliest things, from Glastonbury to I can’t even think what — she would be current with it.
But, I tell you the simplest thing — whenever I’m travelling, particularly when I’m going through airport security, and I’m just in line, and my patience is coming to an end, and someone is just hustling me and not in a particularly polite way, and I’m about to lose it, I think, How would my mother handle this? And I know that she would handle it with incredible grace and patience, and I think that that, for me, is something I need to work on, my patience, because I don’t have much of it.
Although the pandemic has imposed many hardships, Hicks and her husband solidified their love by officially tying the knot on Friday, September 10, 2021, when they had an intimate wedding, surrounded by their closest family and friends.
Q: Your father was also iconic, of course. As you witnessed your father in his interior decoration and design practice, what were some of your biggest takeaways? How has he influenced your work?
A: He was utterly unique. Very difficult as a father, but utterly unique as a designer. He never compromised; he was always filled with drama, not only in his everyday life, but also in the way he worked and talked to clients, and I think people responded to that in a good way. When you had a David Hicks-decorated room, you knew it was David Hicks. He also really branded himself, long before anybody was really using that word. He had that big H sign, the four Hs together that became his logo, which was so significant way back in the ’60s and ’70s — he put it on everything. He put it on houses, on books, on the bottom of his shoe — everything had that H logo, and it was very, very strong as a brand. But I think it was that he, as a designer, was very confident in the way that he designed, and I think that we see less of that. I think we see an awful lot of grey. I am guilty of that, for settling for something that doesn’t feel uniquely individual. I think he was very good at bringing out the personality of the person whose home he was decorating, and how often do you walk into people’s homes and you don’t feel their personality at all?
Q: You’re the author of four design books. Which of all your books did you enjoy working on most?
A: I think [the question of] developing, creating, publishing books is an interesting one, because again, with life experience, I’m a better storyteller, I’m a better art director, I’m a better photographer, because I have more experience at it. I’m much better at understanding the audience I’m talking to and what they want. My books are very easy; they take about half an hour on the loo, basically. I like to think that I come from a dynamic background, and obviously my father’s work has influenced me, but I like that I have created my own island life, and I think island life is uniquely my own. Mothering five children, one of them Bahamian, is uniquely my own, uniquely my story. I hope that I do bring this message out in these books, that they feel uniquely mine. I love to write and I love to tell stories, and I think there are lots of stories in my latest book, An Entertaining Story. It’s not just your average entertaining book where you say, “This is how you lay a table, this is the napkin you should match with your tablecloth.” There are some fun, crazy stories in there, too, just about life experience.
Q: Of your two parents, who do you believe has influenced you the most and how?
A: I was very close to my mother growing up and I’m still particularly close to her now. We share the same sense of humour, we love to travel, we are passionate about ducks and rose and violet creams. So we have a lot in common. My father is innately in me; there are parts of my personality where I think, Oh goodness. That’s a strong reaction — that’s a David Hicks reaction! So, I’m definitely a blend of the two of them, but having spent so much more time with my mother, I’m probably a mix of both — hopefully, the good sides.
Q: What did you admire about their relationship? What did you notice growing up that made you think, I want to bring this into my future relationships?
A: They had a very complicated marriage, I think because they came from very different backgrounds and they were completely different personalities. There wasn’t much blending. There wasn’t much softness around some of the difficulties of married life, but they respected each other, and they respected that they were such different characters, and even though it was fraught with complications, I don’t think either of them really thought of leaving the other. They managed to find their way through that in living independent lives and yet still remaining together. So it was not an easy marriage but it was one that was definitely founded on respect and love for each other.
Q: Speaking of marriage, after 26 years of being together with your partner David, you decided to tie the knot. Can you share why you waited this long to marry and everything that went into the details of the day?
A: You know, I’ve known David for a very long time — he was a friend of my older sister, so I’ve known him since I was about 12. We had a brief flirtation when I was about 19 and then we got together when I was in my late twenties. When I discovered that I was pregnant, he said, “Why don’t we get married?” and I said, “Absolutely not!” I love the idea of marriage, I love the idea of family, relationships, but it just wasn’t something for me.
It was after COVID, after being locked down on the island with my five kids for 15 months on and off. We were lucky that we had space and we had some freedom that other people didn’t have during COVID, but nevertheless, it affected us as much as its affected everybody else, in the fact that you’re unsure of the future and you’re suddenly facing something that’s unknown. With that comes questions and complications, particularly for children, and I had five children between the ages of 24 and 14, and there were a lot of questions that they were asking, and I just thought, There’s so much uncertainty around this right now. Is there something that I can do for them that makes them feel there’s something in life that feels very sure? and I just said, “Why don’t we get married? Why don’t we do this, which will anchor our family completely and it will show that there is something traditional?” There is just a message of love that feels strong, and so I think David was very surprised, because by then we had been 26 years unmarried.
It was the most wonderful day. People said to me, “It’ll be the happiest day of your life,” and I said, “That is a Hallmark card. I’ve had many amazing remarkable days in my life, and this will not be,” but it really was the happiest day of my life. I think that having my daughter as my bridesmaid and having my eldest son walk me down the aisle and having Wesley drive me to the church and having Amory speak the night before at our dinner and having Conrad read in church — it was really, really remarkable. And I also think there was something very timely about it, that it was our first wedding, and after 26 years together, we really knew what we wanted to have. We kept it quite small — it was very difficult narrowing that list down, because obviously we have a lot of friends and family we’d have liked to include, but it just felt very, very meaningful, every single detail of that day.
Q: The Emilia Wickstead dress was beautiful, and I read your post on the inspiration for it. Did you always know you wanted your dress to look like that?
A: No. Growing up it was very traditional to do a sort of Princess Diana [style] and have a long train and a big dress, but I was very conscious that I was getting married at 54, and I was an older and first-time bride. I knew I wanted to wear a whiteish dress, but then I thought white seemed too virginal, and we can definitely say I’m not a virgin! I thought cream was a nice variation. I wanted to work with Emilia because I knew I wanted to work with an English designer, and she’s a friend and I knew she would understand my body type and the simplicity of the dress that I wanted. As soon as she showed me the lace, I said, “That’s definitely it; the lace will speak for itself. We don’t need to have much more going on.” I also knew I didn’t want to wear long, because I thought that would be absurd at 54. So, I knew I wanted a sort of tea-dress length, and Emilia did an amazing job, being able to interpret everything I wanted.
Q: You’re the mother of five beautiful children. What has been your greatest joy as a mother and your greatest struggle?
A: The greatest joy as a mother is that you feel complete, that I was here to mother. And I think the greatest job now is seeing these different personalities coming, and how they begin to think for themselves, make their own choices, and how their lives are beginning to move forward away from us, but also, hopefully, taking what we have instilled in them with them.
“mothering Five Children, One Of Them Bahamian, Is Uniquely My Own, Uniquely My Story”
The greatest difficulty was actually having children on a small island, where there wasn’t much option for education. We had to make difficult choices in how the children were going to be educated, and that was always tricky, because as much as I wanted them to feel as though the island was their home, they needed to have a bit broader education, and so some of that was hard. But island life was an amazing education for them as well; living on a tiny island was quite an amazing start. They are very individual and think very differently, in a much broader way, than if I had them growing up in a more traditional way.
Q: You’ve lived in the Bahamas for the past 25 years. What do you love most about it?
A: I love the Bahamas as a whole because there’s pink sand, swaying palm trees and turquoise water. But what I love is that I’ve made a life here, and I think what I love most about that is that it’s introduced me to all walks of life. I think it is very valuable to have a broad spectrum of people from all walks of life as your friends, because I learn so much from them.
For instance, during the lockdown, I was part of a small committee of people, five very extraordinary characters who came together to set up Harbour Island Food Bank. There was a lot of food insecurity — there had been a lot of food insecurity anyway. You live in a place reliant on tourism and then suddenly overnight the tourism had shut off. People had not necessarily been saving, had not been anticipating a two-year COVID restriction on their income. And so we were able to raise about a million dollars and were able to feed 3,000 people every single weekend, so that nobody on the island went hungry, nobody on the island was anxious or felt insecure during the lockdown. And I’m very grateful for that time, because it gave us something to do, and that was an amazing project to be a part of.
Q: You’ve been able to partner with the disaster-relief agency Global Empowerment Mission, as an on-the-ground force in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian and on their advisory board today. What makes you passionate about philanthropy?
A: When Hurricane Dorian came through it wiped out two neighbouring islands. I thought, I need to get involved. I have time on my hands and I am able to fundraise, and that was when I sort of bumped into the Global Empowerment Mission. I really liked the way they were working, I liked that they were doing one-, two-, three-phase [relief]. They’re a disaster-relief agency; they’re normally first on the ground. But they don’t just come in and go out; they build foundations so that local teams — that’s where the “empowerment” part comes in — they build local teams to continue the projects. So, for example, a school is devastated, and they came and gave what was immediately needed: battery packs, warm blankets, food, all of that immediate disaster relief, but then they recognized that we’re going to need to rebuild the school, and when we rebuild the school, we can get the communities back up and running. We can bring hope, and hope is very important after a disaster.
Then they say that we’ll have to build the school as a hurricane shelter as well, so now that they’ve done the first bit of disaster aid, now they’re building the team on the ground that’s going to be able to manage the project of rebuilding. Then they go back and make sure that project is completed, and so it’s one-, two-, three-phase aid.
And they do this everywhere, but never during a war before. During the Bahamian part of rebuilding the two islands I sat on their advisory board and think I was able to prove to them that I was fully invested in what I was doing. I wanted to continue my role with them, and so was elevated to the executive board. I did a couple of other small missions with them: the tornadoes in Alabama and the Surfside Tower building collapse disaster in Florida.
When they went into Ukraine, they were there very early on, about 10 days after the invasion, and I realized this wasn’t going to be a short mission. This was going to be a long one. Again, I called the founder, Michael Capponi, and I said, “What can I do?” He said, “You should come here and see for yourself what’s happening and then you can tell your audience, your followers, your network, exactly what you’ve seen,” which is a much more effective way of raising money, because I can say to them, “You’re not just giving to an agency; you’re giving to people who I know, and [I know] where your money is going to go, and how it can be helpful.” I went, and we were on the Polish border, and that was where I first saw the women, the children and so many cats coming through, and it was emotionally overwhelming, seeing these people completely shocked, from one day going to the cinema to the next day losing their homes. They’re just herded onto buses and they have no idea where they’re going. And they’re going to massive shelters and churches or gymnasiums or shopping malls, and they’re sitting on the floor wondering what on Earth is happening.
It’s really staggering to think what one man can do, the devastation he can bring to hundreds of thousands, millions of people. And like the one-, two-, three-phase, I don’t want to go just once. It’s my duty and my loyalty [to the cause of ] Global Empowerment, which they have earned, that I stay involved.
“… there Was Something Very Timely About It, That It Was Our First Wedding, And After 26 Years Together, We Really Knew What We Wanted To Have”
From that trip on, I’ve been fundraising a lot, talking to people, showing them what I’ve seen. And then I went back, actually going into Ukraine so I could witness what the devastation was like and learn how we could start to rebuild communities. My part is very small.
I went to Bucha, which is one of the main cities that was devastated early on. And that’s really where we began to see Russia’s war crimes, when they killed the civilians for no reason at all, where people were crossing a bridge trying to get out, and the Russians just attacked without any warning at all, even though it was a green corridor. So Bucha is a landmark city that we’re now going into, [planning] to identify the buildings, churches, schools that we can get back up and running.
Of course, all of that takes huge funding, huge energy, huge dedication, and so that’s what I’m doing all the time. Even though my social media may look like I’m having a lovely time in the south of France or doing a pop-up in Paris or designing shoes in Spain, I’m also fundraising and working for Global Empowerment and trying to be a valuable team member.
“Even Though My Social Media May Look Like I’m Having A Lovely Time In The South Of France Or Doing A Pop-up In Paris Or Designing Shoes In Spain, I’m Also Fundraising And Working For Global Empowerment And Trying To Be A Valuable Team Member”
Q: When you’ve experienced something like that, do you feel guilty coming back home?
A: Utterly. You know, I travelled a lot when I was younger, and you go to Kolkata [then Calcutta], you work in a slum and come home thinking, How can I justify my privileged, white, saved life?
The re-entry is very difficult. Coming back home from Ukraine, back into my life, I do feel the guilt. But there is no point in me sitting with regret and remorse and feeling the safety of my life and feeling guilt around it. I think I have to use it and say, “Right, because I have this privileged life, how can I work that into helping those who haven’t been able to help?” I work a lot with Global Empowerment Mission particularly because of the war, but I also work for the Prince’s Trust.
The Prince’s Trust was founded back in 1976 by Prince Charles, and it was so forward-thinking. I’m very much a part of the supporting-women side of it, because they more recently realized that they were more heavily inclined toward men, and that actually more women now needed help, particularly since COVID. I’m very focused on that as well.
But it is complicated because people are very tapped out. I mean, just yesterday I posted what I thought was a very emotional video of my time in Ukraine. Just yesterday, Kyiv, where I was staying, got hit and attacked again, and people would prefer to see a picture of my dog than they would people grieving after having lost their homes. It is hard when you want to use social media as a vehicle for messaging and fundraising. You do have to balance it, so a little bit of frivolity is needed to keep your audience engaged. If I was only talking about devastation and loss, and the sort of appalling atrocities that people were experiencing, we would zone out, because we can’t take it all the time.
I try to balance it, but I do recognize that social media is a very valuable tool in this day and age, and you need to use it. I’m very grateful for people who follow me and who I engage because I am able to ask them, “Can you give here? Can you help there?” And I have met extraordinary people through social media, and that has been useful. It is this balance. It’s this balance of going back to Ukraine and coming back into my safe life; it’s also the balance of using social media to share the things that I’ve seen to also bring in a little light and humour, as well.
Q: You’re a goddaughter of Prince Charles. What is something most people don’t know about him and/ or your relationship?
A: He’s incredibly fit. Perhaps people don’t think about that too much. And I think the Prince’s Trust is another great example of [his philosophy of health] — he was thinking in a different way than so many people so early on. Now we’re hugging trees and using curd to run our car, and he was doing that, and people were going, “Is this guy crazy? What’s he doing?” And now we’re actually, like, “He saw this coming before anybody else did.” Having a green and sustainable life, talking to your plants, and hugging the trees are now actually the messaging that we are hearing everywhere, so it’s quite remarkable how ahead of his time he was.
“I Am Hugely Admiring Of Who He [david] Is As A Person”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
RAPID-FIRE
Q: What advice did you neglect when you were younger that is valuable to you today?
A: There is more in you than you think.
Q: Who do you most look up to?
A: David, my other half, now my husband, is very remarkable in the fact that he has never tried to be anybody other than who he is, and I have huge respect for that. I also ask him every day, “What do I have to think?” Because he takes both sides of an argument and then distils it down to what he feels is the right answer between the two. He watches Fox News as well as CNN. He balances life by taking the two extremes and then deciding for himself, and I think a lot of us are influenced by one thing or another and we don’t do that. We don’t do the work between two points of view and then decide for ourselves. So I am hugely admiring of who he is as a person.
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: I definitely ride whenever I can. I probably rode before I could walk. Any opportunity to ride is exciting to me. I have played pickle-ball for about a year, but now I’ve completely become addicted to pickle-ball. It’s the fastest-growing sport in America, but not very well-known in England. I love it. It’s really fun, very quick and involves all ages.
Q: What is one thing you learned while you were modelling?
A: That it takes a team. I loved being a part of the team, being part of a group of people who were all there, from all different walks of life, with all different skill sets.
Q: What does la dolce vita, the sweet life, mean to you?
A: Happiness, health and contentment.
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Photography By Joseph Montezinos