Pamela Mountbatten is the daughter of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, most famously known for his role in history as the last Viceroy of India. She married the designer, the late David Hicks. India Hicks is the granddaughter of Earl Mountbatten. She is the author of Island Life and Island Beauty.

In March 1947 Lord Louis Mountbatten became the last Viceroy of India, with the mandate to hand over "the jewel in the crown" of the British Empire within one year. Mountbatten worked with various leaders to devise a plan for partitioning the empire into two independent sovereign states. During the remainder of his term, his daughter Pamela kept a diary recounting this remarkable time—from trips to Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Orissa, and Assam to the exotic palaces of Indian rulers and the Rajputs in Central and Western India, and the imperial palace-cities built by the mughals. With anecdotes from her writings and a collection of atmospheric photographs, this account paints a clear picture of an extraordinary transitional period in history.