10. Viceroy’s House Part 3; The Chaos After Partition, Gandhi and Nehru

12/10/19 • 37 min

We’re sitting in the drawing room of Lady Pamela Hicks’ home in Oxfordshire having a generally very informal conversation about Lady Pamela’s memories of living through some pretty extraordinary and now historic times. It’s just India, Lady Pamela and me – Lisa the producer recording it and putting it all together – we’ve chosen to have no studio, no formalities just conversation and plenty of tea and cake.

In this, the third of our Viceroy’s House episodes Lady Pamela, now 18, recalls the euphoria and subsequent difficulties after Indian partition when her father, Lord Mountbatten was doing what he knew was the ‘impossible job’ as the last Viceroy of India.

In the now very tense aftermath of partition Lady Pamela, along with her mother Lady Louis Mountbatten, are still working in the refugee camps and Lord Mountbatten is working flat out. But the political and social situation is very challenging, Gandhi starts his hunger strike and yes we do talk about the friendship between Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Lady Edwina.

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9. Viceroy's House Part 2; The Build Towards Indian Partition

In the second Viceroy’s House episode Lady Pamela regales more of her incredible memories as a teenager living in India when her father, Lord Mountbatten, was given what he knew was the ‘impossible job’ as the last Viceroy of India. In the now very tense build up to Indian partition 18 year old Lady Pamela and her mother Lady Louis Mountbatten are still working in the refugee camps, have become close friends with Gandhi and Indian Prime Minister Nehru and witness some of the intense highs and lows of this challenging time.

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11. Viceroy's House Part 4; A Bittersweet Goodbye

We’re sitting in the drawing room of Lady Pamela Hicks’ home in Oxfordshire hearing Lady Pamela’s stories of living through some pretty extraordinary and now historic times. It’s just India, Lady Pamela and Lisa the producer; no studio, no formalities just conversation, tea and cake. In the last of our Viceroy’s House episodes Lady Pamela recalls the sadness of coming to the end of their stay in India, a country she had grown to love, leaving the many people who had become very dear to her and the family and their bittersweet arrival back home.