Member of a royal family come out as gay

A member of the Royal Family has become the first ever to come out as gay.

A Queen’s cousin

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who has three children with ex-wife Penelope (Penny) Thompson, came out over the weekend saying he had struggled with his sexuality.

But now, he said he was happy to now be in a partnership with James Coyle, an airline cabin services director.

The couple met while skiing in Verbier, Switzerland.

James shouted hello to Lord Mountbatten, who is something like 700th in line to the throne, thinking he was a guide he’d been skiing with earlier. There was a mutual attraction and it all snowballed from there.

‘Penny was aware before we got married,’ he told the Mail on Sunday. ‘I told her I was bisexual, that my attraction went both ways. She understood and I will always be grateful to her.

‘”Coming out” is such a funny phrase but it’s what I suppose I did in a rather roundabout way, emerging to a place I’m happy to be. I have struggled with my sexuality and in some ways I still do; it has been a real journey to reach this point.’

He added: ‘Being a Mountbatten was never the problem. It was the generation into which I was born. When I was growing up, it was known as “the love that dare not speak its name”, but what’s amazing now is how far we have all come in terms of acceptance.’