Princess Diana's Bridesmaid India Hicks Remembers Being 'Alarmed' at the 'Frilly Dress' She Wore

"It was a time and place and a moment in fashion in the 1980s," said India Hicks, who attended Princess Diana and Prince Charles' 1981 royal nuptials at the age of 12

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India Hicks is sharing more details about the time she served as Princess Diana's bridesmaid at the age of 12 in July 1981.

Prince Charles' second cousin and goddaughter, now 54, remembers being "proud and delighted" to serve as a bridesmaid at the royal affair, but as a self-described tomboy, she also felt "a little alarmed at being asked to wear a frilly dress."

"It was a time and place and a moment in fashion in the 1980s. So it was voluptuous and over the top, and drama everywhere," Hicks told Insider on Wednesday.

"So I understand that those dresses were so befitting to the era. However, if you were a tomboy like me... when you are asked to be a bridesmaid, you are proud and delighted, but you are a little alarmed at being asked to wear a frilly dress, as you can imagine."

David Loftus

Hicks was herself recently a bride, having married her partner of 26 years David Flint Wood last year.

The former model opened up to BRIDES' The Royals digital issue about her love story with Wood, and why she chose to wed the father of her five children after so long.

"This could not be called a whirlwind romance," the British designer, writer and entrepreneur said, describing how she first knew David as a friend of her sister's before kissing during a charity event in the Bahamas years later.

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When she was in her late 20s, Hicks returned to the Bahamas and learned that Flint Wood was nearby.

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"I decided to try to find him. David calls this our Casablanca moment," she said. "Of all the gin joints in all the world, I walked into his. He was running a small hotel, and I decided to stay."

A few months later, Hicks discovered she was pregnant and Flint Wood proposed, to which she said "No thank you."

"In my mind, I was saying, 'I'm a strong, independent woman! I don't need to get married!' Which is what I said for 26 years, until suddenly I didn't."

On Friday, Hicks is hosting an online conversation with her mother Lady Pamela — lady in waiting and bridesmaid to Queen Elizabeth — in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Queen's reign. Hicks discussed the event on her Instagram this week, writing, "Join my mother and me on Friday as we talk about that famous day when she was with the Queen in Kenya, and what happened next."

She also mentioned in the post that a portion of the proceeds will go to The Prince's Trust, a charity started by Prince Charles in 1976 to help young people find opportunities through employment, education, and enterprise. Hicks is an ambassador for the charity.