There are countless gifts a seven-year-old girl might hope to find under the Christmas tree—toys, games, perhaps books. But it is a safe bet that a fine china gravy boat would not feature on most wish lists. Yet that is precisely what the then-Prince Charles gave his goddaughter India Hicks for Christmas when she was seven.
In fact, each year another piece of crockery would arrive, until—by the time she reached her twenties—Ms Hicks had amassed a full dinner service. The designer and former model, now 58, admitted that receiving a piece of crockery annually as a child was 'very confusing,' but she now views the idea as 'a useful, brilliant present.'
Ms Hicks, the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten of Burma and a bridesmaid at the wedding of Charles and Princess Diana, said she now possesses a complete collection of royal crockery thanks to the future king 'thinking ahead.'
She told the Rosebud podcast: 'Every year, a cardboard box would arrive from the royal maker, Goode, wasn't it? And in it would be a saucer or a gravy dish or a cup.' She remarked that it was 'very confusing to have a gravy dish for Christmas' as a seven-year-old but 'extraordinary as a 27-year-old or a 37-year-old to have a complete dining set.'
Ms Hicks continued: 'What a useful, brilliant present. Instead of some plastic toy that you were given at seven that you've no idea where it's gone. And I am a godparent to many godchildren… can I live up to that brilliant thinking ahead of what someone would like later in life?'
Thomas Goode is a tableware firm established in 1827, based in Mayfair, renowned for sourcing and selling the finest china, silverware, and glass from top manufacturers such as Spode and Wedgwood.
