Queen's Gay Cousin Says Royal Family Doesn't Talk About His Marriage

Lord Ivar Mountbatten made history in 2016 when he became the first member of the extended royal family to come out publicly as gay. He married his partner James Coyle last year, his second marriage after spending 16 years with his ex-wife, Penny.

Now, in an interview with British magazine Tatler, Lord Ivar has revealed that he has no idea what the proper royal family thinks of his same-sex marriage.

“They don’t really talk about it,” he said. “I mean, the royals, they don’t communicate very well.”

Mountbatten is only the third cousin of the Queen, once removed, so they probably aren’t exactly close pals. But still, when asked if he hopes his decision to be out as gay was good for the family as a whole, he said “you would hope so!”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have previously been commended for reportedly being the most pro-LGBTQ royal couple. They’ve been public supporters of the transgender children’s charity Mermaids and made a point to celebrate Pride month on their Instagram account earlier this summer.

Prince William has also gone on record saying he would “fully support” either of his children if they were to come out to him as gay.

“How many barriers you know, hateful words, persecution, all that and discrimination that might come, that’s the bit that really troubles me,” he said. “But that’s for all of us to try and help correct and make sure we can put that to the past and not come back to that sort of stuff.”

But being pro-LGBTQ isn’t limited to the younger generations of the royal family.

Lord Ivar’s says his mother, Janet, has been nothing but supportive of his sexuality and his new marriage.

“The older generation of my family have seen and done it all before,” she said. “My aunt Nada was a lesbian. You’ve got to try everything once, that’s what my mother always said.”