The King's goddaughter, India Hicks, has detailed her recent skin cancer scare in a heartbreaking social media post.
The 58-year-old designer and former fashion model is the daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks, a lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Ms Hicks is a relative of the royal family, as her mother is a descendant of the house of Mountbatten. Lady Pamela was a first cousin of Prince Philip and is currently the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria.
In a post on social media, Ms Hicks said: “I had hoped for a whole week at home. A week with no airports, no security queues, no lost chargers or boarding groups. Just stillness. But life, with its own mysterious choreography, shifted the plan.
The King's goddaughter India Hicks has announced a cancer scare
|GETTY
“The test results from a recent skin-cancer operation came back and the news was… not great. Not dramatic-movie-scene not great, but just unsettlingly not great.
“The kind of news that makes the world blur slightly at the edges. The results showed a worryingly fast-moving patch of cancer in my lower calf.
“I reacted the way most people do: a strange mixture of calm practicality and a little private terror. 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?”
When Ms Hicks was 13, she served as a bridesmaid in Charles' royal wedding to Princess Diana.
She now splits her time between the Cotswolds and Harbour Island in the Bahamas. She went on to say she had found a doctor in Miami who could perform an urgent procedure.
She continued: “The procedure itself was only relatively uncomfortable. You sit there with an open incision in your leg while they whisk the tissue to the pathology lab.
India Hicks was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Diana and Charles
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“And then comes the hardest part: waiting, you feel fine, you're chatting, you're scrolling your phone, and yet everything hinges on what's happening in another room.”
Concluding; "this time, I was lucky."
Ms Hicks’ scare comes just a year after both the King and Princess Kate revealed cancer diagnoses of their own.
His Majesty is holding a State Visit at Windsor Castle for Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender, the first time a German leader has been hosted in the UK for 27 years.
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Steinmeier and Budenbender were met by the King and Queen in the chilly open air, outside Windsor and Eton Riverside train station, with the famous castle as the backdrop.
In the December sunshine, the royal party and guests took part in a carriage ride through the streets of the Berkshire town, led by a Sovereign’s Escort from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.
A 41-gun royal salute was fired from the East Lawn within Windsor Home Park, timed with precision to coincide with the King and Queen greeting their guests at midday.
The King and Queen are currently hosting the German president in a historic State Visit
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Before they introduced them to local dignitaries and joined them for the playing of the German national anthem.
This evening, the president and his wife will attend a grand state banquet in St George's Hall, which has been adorned for the festive season with a six-metre Christmas tree from Windsor Great Park, illuminated by 3,000 lights.
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