David Hicks; Interior Designer Had Royal Clients

David Hicks, 69, internationally known British interior designer whose clients included Prince Charles and Princess Anne. Hicks’ bold, distinctive style utilized intense colors for backgrounds and mixed modern paintings with antique furniture. His wealthy and titled clientele increased in 1960 when he married Lady Pamela Mountbatten, the daughter of Prince Philip’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma. In addition to his British royal clients, Hicks designed for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, cosmetics maven Helena Rubinstein and the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship. Hicks wrote nine books on decorating. A Times review of one, “David Hicks Style and Design,” published in 1988, said that the author proved himself to be “a refreshingly practical professional.” Also in 1988, Hicks was elected president of the first British chapter of the Los Angeles-based International Society of Interior Designers. On Sunday in Oxfordshire, England, of cancer.