Queen’s cousin speaks of decision to come out as gay
A cousin of the Queen has spoken of his decision to come out as gay. Lord Ivar Mountbatten, a descendant of Queen Victoria, also told of his happiness with his new partner, James Coyle. In a newspaper interview, the divorced father of three said: “I was driven into the closet by not wanting to come to terms with who I was … I buried it. I’m just so pleased now to have found someone who I am happy to call my partner.”
THE Queen’s cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten has spoken for the first time about his homosexuality and how he has found love.
The 53-year-old, the great-nephew of Earl Mountbatten of Burma who was murdered by the IRA, has told his family and friends he is gay.
Lord Ivar has introduced them to his boyfriend James Coyle, whom he met while skiing in the Swiss resort Verbier last March.
Last night he said: “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.
“‘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.
“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. 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 twenties. I’m just so pleased now to have found someone who I am happy to call my partner.”
He says his former wife, Penny, whom he divorced in 2011, and their three daughters have been very supportive and have welcomed his partner into their lives.
“I am a lot happier now, though I am still not 100 per cent comfortable with being gay,” he told The Mail On Sunday.
“In an ideal world, I know the girls would like their mother and father still to be together, but they love their 21stcentury family that we have built too.
“Their father has a boyfriend. It’s that complicated and that simple, but finding James means I will not have to lie to anyone or grow old on my own.”