There has never been a dull day with my mother, Lady Pamela Hicks

My mother was given the middle name Carmen, after her Spanish godmother María del Carmen de Saavedra y Collado, Duchess of Peñaranda, who caused a scandal by running off with a bullfighter, according to a family tale. Domino was also given the middle name Carmen; my mother made me promise to never call her Pamela.

My mother may have grown up surrounded by dazzling…