Susie Cameron catches up with Princess Diana’s bridesmaid, India Hicks, who’s the right royal authority on how to be your very own princess bride.
At the age of 13 India Hicks was “crowned” a bridesmaid by her godfather, Prince Charles. She was given the royal role of managing Diana’s breathtaking 7m-long bridal dress train.
“The dress had been one of the world’s best-kept fashion secrets,” she says as she remembers watching Diana getting ready to leave for St Paul’s Cathedral in London. “So it was a thrilling moment when the bride was helped into the cream silk taffeta floor-length gown, her tiara on her head and bouquet in hand.”
India remembers the princess-to-be was quite strong willed, especially when it came to her crown and fragrance.
“The hairdresser tried to spray a hint of hairspray onto her hair, but Diana brushed him aside convinced she wanted her hair untouched,” she says. “I had never paid much attention to the world of scent, but being at an impressionable age I was struck by the 19-year-old Diana’s strong fragrance choice.”
Thirty years later, India lives on a small island in the Bahamas with husband David Flint Wood, who is the father of India’s four children: Felix, Amory, Conrad and Domino. Unusual first names seem to be a trademark of her family.
She recalls fondly what was involved with getting ready for a royal wedding.
“Getting ready for a royal wedding is not dissimilar to getting ready for any other wedding,” India says in her relaxed style. “Of course the possible audience watching a royal wedding could be as great as a billion viewers, which can be intimidating.”
“There are a few golden rules: Don’t step on the bride’s wedding train, especially when it is 7m long. And remember to give an extra deep curtsy to the bride once she has become married, as it’s more than likely one day she will be our sovereign.”
In 2005 Crabtree & Evelyn collaborated with India Hicks on her beauty collection, Island Living Body and Home.
“Living on a small out island in the Bahamas as I do, does not offer much opportunity for facials or other elaborate beauty treatments,” India says. “And so I developed a collection of beauty products for the body that were all natural and highly effective. I would suggest my India Hicks Island Living body polish is the perfect wedding-day treatment for achieving soft skin.”
And her best beauty tip for the eve of the wedding? Get a good night’s sleep. “However,” she says, “with the excitement of the big day looming this might not be possible, or the nervousness of discovering you have been swept up by the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, who is insisting you borrow her own toothbrush.” Sounds easy!
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