Royal Goddaughter of King Charles Has Surgery Following Sudden ‘Fast-Moving’ Skin Can:cer Discovery — Details
At the start of the week, India Hicks expected nothing more dramatic than a routine checkup. What she found instead was something that quietly shook her world. The 58-year-old designer and former model shared on her Substack that her results “were not great.” Not devastating, she said, but troubling enough to make the edges of daily life feel unsteady.
A fast-moving patch of skin cancer had appeared on her lower calf. Hicks described the moment with a disarming honesty. A strange mix of calm, of making tea, answering emails, pretending things were fine, while a quiet internal voice whispered the darker possibilities.
She had been looking forward to a rare stretch at home, a week without airports or queues or lost chargers. Life, she wrote, had other plans. After hours of calls and research, she flew to Miami to undergo Mohs surgery, a meticulous procedure that removes cancerous cells one layer at a time. The part she found hardest was the waiting, sitting with an open incision while the sample travelled to the pathology lab and time slowed to a crawl.
When the doctor finally returned, the news was the one she had hoped for. The cancer was gone. Seventeen neat stitches later, she walked out relieved, bruised, and grateful. It was her second surgery in a short time, she joked, adding that her assistant Claire was becoming unexpectedly skilled at removing stitches and had once said she never wanted a normal job.
She made it home in time for Thanksgiving, surrounded by friends, laughter and noise. It brought her back to herself. For someone who divides her life between the Cotswolds and Harbour Island, the episode became a quiet reminder of how fragile things can be and how fortunate she felt to have been treated in time.
A life still unfolding
Hicks has long woven creativity, philanthropy and entrepreneurship into a life that began in front of the camera. After her modelling years in the 80s and 90s, she built her own lifestyle brand, wrote books on design and island living, and spent twenty years running The Sugar Mill, her boutique on Harbour Island.
Her family life is equally central to her story. She and her husband, David Flint Wood, raise five children in a close and lively household, often featured in her writing and photography. For many readers, her latest update resonated not because of the fear but because of the steadiness beneath it. She allowed vulnerability in without letting it overwhelm her, something people have always sensed in the way she tells her life.
The images that follow capture the broader arc of that story, from her connection to the royal family to moments from her public life:
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King Charles walks outdoors in a dark overcoat, white shirt and pale blue patterned tie, his expression composed yet slightly solemn.
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King Charles, photographed on 14 November 2025, appears thoughtful and tense in a grey suit, checked shirt and pale patterned tie.
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A young India Hicks stands beside the then-Prince and Princess of Wales on their wedding day.
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Thirteen-year-old India appears with Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral as bridesmaids at the royal wedding.
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Hicks attends the Service of Thanksgiving for Prince Philip in March 2022, wearing a grey dress with a coordinating hat and black heels.
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Another view of the same event, with Hicks in a grey dress, black veiled hat and gold brooch.
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Hicks takes part in the 35th annual Antiques and Garden Show in Nashville in January 2025, relaxed in a white blouse.
