MYSTERY DIAGNOSIS

King Charles’s Goddaughter Reveals Painful Health Battle

“I felt ugly inside and out.”

British designer India Hicks is sharing details of her struggle with a painful medical condition.

Hicks, the goddaughter of King Charles III and a bridesmaid in his 1981 wedding to Princess Diana, says she spent weeks battling shingles, though her dermatologist initially failed to recognize it.

The 59-year-old retired model has revealed that she only received a diagnosis after an eagle-eyed stranger identified her symptoms through social media photos.

Shingles is a viral infection accompanied by a painful rash caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus. Hicks said the ordeal left her face swollen and her arm covered in blisters until an online stranger helped her get answers.

Hicks recounted the ordeal in an interview with NewBeauty, where she discussed her involvement in pharmaceutical giant GSK’s “Shingles, Actually” campaign, which launched last month to raise awareness of the condition among older adults.

The designer joined Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, a campaign spokesperson, along with model Molly Sims, television host Hoda Kotb, and chef Candace Nelson at a GSK event in New York City in October.

“The pain from shingles put my life on hold,” Hicks wrote in a collaboration post with the organization on Instagram, explaining that her experience inspired her to raise awareness about the condition.

Hicks said her symptoms first appeared during dinner with supermodel Helena Christensen, when she noticed an unusual sensation spreading along her face and arm.

“I could feel something coming on the side of my face and down my arm,” Hicks recalled. “It was the beginning of the blistering, and I felt ugly inside and out.”

At the time, Hicks was preparing to travel to Ukraine with the disaster relief organization Global Empowerment Mission. She initially dismissed the irritation as a physical response to the anxiety surrounding her humanitarian work.

But the rash worsened during her trip, leaving her with painful, oozing blisters.

After returning to England, Hicks consulted a dermatologist who failed to identify the infection and instead prescribed several creams.

By the time she returned to her home in the Bahamas, her symptoms had become increasingly concerning.

The breakthrough came after Hicks shared her experience on social media and described what she believed was a stress-related reaction.

“Someone wrote back and said, ‘You’ve got shingles,’ because the description of it going down one side was so telling,” she explained.

An American doctor subsequently confirmed the fan’s early diagnosis.

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“Shingles hadn’t even been on my radar,” Hicks admitted, explaining that she had never associated the condition with someone as physically active as herself.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in three Americans will develop shingles during their lifetime, with the risk increasing after age 50.

Although Hicks described her case as relatively mild, she said the illness left her exhausted and forced her to postpone professional commitments.

Now, she hopes her experience will encourage others to take the condition seriously.

“Everybody over 50 should be encouraged to ask their doctor or pharmacist about the risk of shingles and about prevention,” she said.

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Tamilore OshikanluContributor

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