In an interview Sunday with the UK's
Mail on Sunday, Lord Ivar Mountbatten became the first member
of the British royal family to come out gay.
Lord Ivar, 53, is a cousin of Queen
Elizabeth II.
He has three daughters with his ex-wife
Penny and said that he struggled with his sexuality. He said that
Penny knew that he was bisexual when they married in 1994.
“'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,” he
told the paper. “I have struggled with my sexuality and in
some ways I still do; it has been a real journey to reach this
point.”
Last year, four years after his
divorce, he met his partner, James Coyle, a 54-year-old airline cabin
services director. Coyle said that he too has struggled with his
sexuality.
“I was driven into the closet by not
wanting to come to terms with who I was and facing friends and family
in the early years,” Coyle said. “I buried it. I even had
girlfriends as I tried to work out what I wanted to be. It was not an
easy time in my teens or 20s. I'm just so pleased now to have found
someone who I am happy to call my partner. My work involves a lot of
travel. For the first time I have had someone to come home to.”