Rosalind Hicks

Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie was born on 5 August 1919 in her grandmother's home in Ashfield, Torquay. Her father, Archie Christie, was a military officer and part of the Flying Corps.[1] In 1914, he married aspiring writer Agatha Christie, daughter of Frederick Alvah Miller and Clarissa Miller. At the time of Rosalind's birth, the manuscript of The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Christie's first novel, had been sent out to John Lane and was published a year later.[2]

At age 7, Rosalind and her parents moved to Sunningdale, where they bought a house, naming it Styles. After several months, Rosalind's grandmother, Clarissa Miller, passed away. Deeply wounded, Agatha moved back into her childhood home, where she was visited by her husband, who confessed his affair with his secretary Nancy Neele. Following these traumatic events, Agatha disappeared on 3 December 1926 and registered as Neele at a hotel in Yorkshire. There, she was found by the police ten days later and never spoke to Rosalind about the incident. Her parents divorced shortly thereafter[3] and in 1928, Christie married Nancy Neele; their only child together and Rosalind's half brother Archibald was born in 1930. In the same year, Rosalind's mother remarried to Max Mallowan.

At age 11, Rosalind was dedicated Christie’s novel, The Murder At The Vicarage, which said “To Rosalind”. She studied at Benenden School and finished her education in Switzerland and France. As an adult, she spent much of her time in the Greenway Estate, which her mother bought in 1938.

Rosalind married Major Hubert de Burr Prichard (14 May 1907 — 16 August 1944), son of Colonel Hubert Prichard, in 1940 at Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales. Their only child, Mathew Prichard, was born in 1943. A year later, Rosalind's husband died in the Normandy landings.[4] She remarried in 1949, to lawyer Anthony Arthur Hicks (26 September 1916 — 15 April 2005)[5] at Kensington, London, England.[6] They lived in the Greenway Estate until Rosalind's death on October 28, 2004, in Torbay, aged 85. She was survived by her son and husband, who died in 2005.[7]

Following Agatha Christie's death in 1976, Rosalind and Christie's husband inherited most of the £106,683 net (about £773,000 in 2019), which she left behind.[8] Rosalind also received 36% of Agatha Christie Limited and the copyrights to Christie’s play A Daughter’s a Daughter. Believing the main character was based on her, she remained unenthusiastic about this.[9]

Furthermore, Rosalind declined many biographies about her mother, only commissioning Janet Morgan to write an authorised biography in 1984.[6] She became president of the Agatha Christie Society in 1993, naming David Suchet and Joan Hickson, whose performances of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple she approved of, Vice Presidents of the company. In a 2014 interview with This Morning, Suchet stated:[10]

"I never met Agatha, but the greatest compliment [...], she [Rosalind] actually said that famously her mother hated people playing Poirot. It never came up to expectations, but one morning she came up on the set and said, I have to tell you, I think my mother would have been very proud."

In 1995, Rosalind reviewed a script for the adaption of Christie’s novel Towards Zero, containing issues such as incest. Appalled, she demanded the changing of the name of the film and its characters. It went on to be released as Innocent Lies.

Following Rosalind's death in 2004, her son Mathew Prichard inherited her shares of the Agatha Christie Limited as well as the Greenway Estate, which he sold to the National Trust. Today, Prichard's son James Prichard is CEO and chairman of Agatha Christie Limited.[11][12]