King Charles’ goddaughter, India Hicks, has opened up about a recent health scare after being diagnosed with a “worryingly fast-moving patch” of skin cancer on her lower calf.
The 58-year-old royal family member shared the news on her Substack, revealing that the cancer was discovered following a medical procedure. “The test results from a recent skin-cancer operation came back, and the news was…not great,” Hicks wrote. “Not dramatic-movie-scene not great, but just unsettlingly not great. The kind of news that makes the world blur slightly at the edges.”
Hicks described her reaction as a mix of calm practicality and private fear. “You tell yourself you’re fine, you make tea, you answer emails, all while a small internal voice is whispering, ‘what if it’s worse than we think?’” she explained.
To address the issue, she traveled to Miami for an urgent Mohs surgery—a procedure that removes thin layers of skin and examines them for signs of cancer until no traces remain. “The procedure itself was only relatively uncomfortable,” she said. “You sit there with an open incision in your leg while they whisk the tissue to the pathology lab. And then comes the hardest part: waiting.”
Thankfully, doctors ultimately gave Hicks the all-clear, telling her she had been “lucky” and was free of cancer. She was then able to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family, enjoying “friends around the table, the loud laughter, the happy chaos.”
Hicks comes from a notable lineage: her mother, Lady Pamela Hicks, is a descendant of the House of Mountbatten and a first cousin of the late Prince Philip, making India one of the oldest living descendants of Queen Victoria.
Her health update arrives amid ongoing concerns about King Charles III’s own health. The monarch revealed in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with a form of cancer following a procedure for an enlarged prostate, though he has said he is “not [doing] too bad” in recent appearances.