Lady Pamela, a first cousin of the late Prince Philip and a childhood friend of the late Queen Elizabeth, will not be attending her second Coronation. Her daughter, India Hicks, a goddaughter of King Charles III, posted earlier today on her Instagram about a phone call she received from one of the King's Private Secretaries. The King sent "his great love and apologies," as he was "offending many family and friends" after cutting the guest to about 1,000 people. More than 8000 attended Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953.
India Hicks noted that her mother was not offended by the focus on meritocracy and not aristocracy. “How very, very sensible, Lady Pamela said. "I am going to follow with great interest the events of this new reign.”
This would have been the second, not third coronation, for Lady Pamela, the younger daughter of the late Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who celebrates her 94th birthday today.
Although India Hicks wrote that her mother "must be one of the few remaining people with such a memory intact, about to live through a third coronation." Lady Pamela attended Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation. Her parents and older sister, Patricia, were guests at the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, but Lady Pamela, at eight years old, she was too young to attend. This is corroborated by her own words in her memoir, Daughter of the Empire.
"Being so young, on the actual day of the coronation, I was left behind at Buckingham Palace, while my mother and sisters went to Westminster Abbey. I didn't mind -- it was such fun to watch the procession and I felt a stab of pride as I caught sight of my father riding just behind the King and Queen's splendid gold coach amid the dancing flags and cheering crowds."
Lady Pamela was one of the Queen's bridesmaids in 1947. She also served as her Lady-in-Waiting during the trip to Kenya in February 1952 when Elizabeth became queen.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11990793/Lady-Pamela-Hicks-not-invited-King-Charless-coronation.html
94, congratulation.
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Andrea
Maybe India meant that her mother has been alive for 3 coronations? That's how I read it. Rather than referring to how many coronations Lady Pamela had attended.
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