EMILY PRESCOTT: King’s god-daughter model India Hicks goes batty about a spot of pickle…

EMILY PRESCOTT: King’s god-daughter model India Hicks goes batty about a spot of pickle…

Forget tennis at Wimbledon – according to the King’s god-daughter India Hicks, it’s all about pickleball!

Model India tells me the American sport is her new obsession and she predicts it’ll soon be huge in the UK.

The 55-year-old daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks – and self-confessed ‘passionate pickler’ – has even designed these paddles for the sport, which she describes as a mix of tennis and ping-pong.

‘I’d been talking about pickleball and I was approached by Recess, a company founded by two young girls.’

Forget tennis at Wimbledon – according to the King’s god-daughter India Hicks, it’s all about pickleball

The 55-year-old daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks ¿ and self-confessed 'passionate pickler' ¿ has even designed these paddles for the sport

The 55-year-old daughter of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks – and self-confessed ‘passionate pickler’ – has even designed these paddles for the sport

It was a fortuitous meeting – after ‘quite a few cocktails’ India agreed to put her design pedigree to good use, creating paddle patterns inspired by her life in the Bahamas.

Off court, India – a bridesmaid at Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 – is usually the epitome of grace, but she says she can’t get enough of the ‘ferocious game’.

Maybe she’ll arrange a match with actress Emma Watson, who has taken to the courts herself recently.

Jo Wood with new boyfriend Jameson Stocks

Jo Wood with new boyfriend Jameson Stocks

Jo’s dishy new date

Jo Wood has a new man in her life – a celebrity chef 29 years her junior. Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s ex-wife, 68, tells me she first met Jameson Stocks at an awards ceremony and he started messaging her on Instagram soon afterwards.

Jo said at wellness company Gelida’s summer party at London’s Nobu Portman Hotel that the pair, pictured, are ‘just friends’. However, she then confessed they have enjoyed a few dates and Jameson – who Marco Pierre White once called Britain’s next culinary star – has even met her daughter Leah.

But it seems Jo needs a bit of reassurance in her choice as she worriedly asks: ‘Do you think he’s quite nice-looking? I don’t know why he likes me. I do think he’s good-looking, actually.’

If you want to look like a rocker, head to the Barnardo’s charity shop in Marylebone – because that’s where Noel Gallagher sends most of his old clothes. But the former Oasis star keeps it low-key, telling Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast: ‘If you make a big deal of it people would just buy it and put it on eBay.’

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