King Charles and Camilla absent from Oxfordshire royal funeral

Mourners, including members of the Royal Family, travelled to a small village in the county for the funeral of Lady Pamela Hicks on Saturday (June 13).

The service for the 97‑year‑old took place at St Bartholomew’s Church in Brightwell Baldwin, between Wallingford and Watlington.

Lady Pamela died last week at her home in the village, where she had lived for many years with her late husband, interior designer David Hicks.

Among the mourners were Lady Helen Taylor, daughter of Prince Edward, and Penelope Knatchbull, Countess Mountbatten of Burma.

There was no sign of King Charles or Queen Camilla, though, as the funeral came on the same day as Trooping the Colour, the King’s official London birthday parade.

Nevertheless, mourners paid their respects outside St Bartholomew’s Church as the coffin was carried inside, before following the procession for the service.

The small parish church is close to The Grove, the family house that became her long‑term base in Oxfordshire.

According to the published order, the funeral was arranged in line with Lady Pamela’s wishes, with rousing hymns but no formal sermon or eulogy during the service.

Lady Pamela was a first cousin of the late Prince Philip and a great‑great‑granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

She was also a bridesmaid at the 1947 wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.

The 97-year-old later served as a lady‑in‑waiting to Queen Elizabeth II and accompanied the then Princess on the 1952 tour of Kenya.

This was when news came through of King George VI’s death and Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.

Following her death on June 5, King Charles paid a warm tribute, saying he was “greatly saddened to learn of the death of Lady Pamela Hicks, a sorrow tempered by the fondest memories and deepest gratitude for her long life and loyal service to Queen Elizabeth.”

In the statement released by Buckingham Palace, he added that her “warmth, wit and perspicacity always made such an impression” and that she would be “so dearly missed by all those who knew and loved her.”

Lady Pamela is survived by her three children, Edwina, Ashley and India, and several grandchildren, many of whom were expected to attend today’s village service.

Brightwell Baldwin is a small rural parish in South Oxfordshire, about four and a half miles north‑east of Wallingford and close to the foot of the Chiltern Hills.

The village, whose name comes from the Old English for “bright spring”, had a population of just over 200 at the last census and is centred around a handful of stone cottages, farms and the church.

St Bartholomew’s itself dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries, with later medieval additions, and is regarded as one of south Oxfordshire’s most interesting historic churches.

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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.heraldseries.co.uk ’