King Charles’ goddaughter India Hicks has revealed she was recently diagnosed with a “a worryingly fast-moving patch” of skin cancer in her lower calf.
The extended royal family member, 58, shared the announcement in her Tuesday Substack, telling her readers that doctors discovered the disease after she underwent 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.”
She continued: “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?’”
To treat the issue, Hicks explained that she found a doctor in Miami who could perform an urgent procedure called Mohs surgery.
The surgery “involves cutting away thin layers of skin. Each thin layer is looked at closely for signs of cancer. The process keeps going until there are no signs of cancer,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
“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. And then comes the hardest part: waiting,” Hicks detailed.
“You feel fine, you’re chatting, you’re scrolling your phone, and yet everything hinges on what’s happening in another room.”
Ultimately, the doctors delivered the good news that she “was lucky” and clear of cancer. Hicks was then given the green light to travel, just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with her family.
“I love the gathering, friends around the table, the loud laughter, the happy chaos,” she said of the holiday.
Hicks’ mother, Lady Pamela Hicks, is a descendant from the House of Mountbatten and a first cousin of the late Prince Philip. She is also the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria.
India’s news comes amid King Charles III’s ongoing battle with cancer. The monarch revealed he had been diagnosed with a “form of cancer” in February 2024 after he underwent a procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.
In his most recent health update, Charles shared that he’s “not [doing] too bad” as he visited patients at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in September.
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