Queen Elizabeth's Cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten Has Married in the First Same-Sex Royal Wedding
Between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nuptials in May and Princess Eugenie's upcoming marriage to Jack Brooksbank, it's been an exciting year for royal weddings, and now we can add one more historic moment to that list.
This weekend Lord Ivar Mountbatten, third cousin once removed to the Queen, wed his longtime partner James Coyle in a small ceremony for family and close friends at a country house in Devon. The occasion marks the first same-sex marriage by a member of the extended royal family.
A post shared by Ivar (@ivar_mountbatten) on Sep 24, 2018 at 4:01am PDT
"Well we did it finally! It was an amazing day despite the miserable British weather," Ivar wrote on Instagram, thanking the Devon registrar and the gospel choir that performed at the ceremony. He added, "Most importantly a massive thanks to my 3 gorgeous girls for being so understanding and supportive, without their support this could never have happened! And finally the biggest thank you to James for being just perfect."
Lord Ivar was accompanied down the aisle and given away by his ex-wife, Penny Mountbatten. Though the couple divorced eight years ago, they've remained close friends and co-parents to their three daughters Ella, Alix, and Luli. "It was the girls' idea," Penny told the Daily Mail of her decision to give Ivar away at the wedding. "It makes me feel quite emotional. I'm really very touched."
A post shared by Ivar (@ivar_mountbatten) on Jun 22, 2018 at 9:59am PDT
Lord Ivar is reportedly a godparent to Lady Louise Windsor, daughter of Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who are in turn godparents to Lord Ivar's two oldest daughters. "Sophie [Countess of Wessex] and [Prince] Edward know of our plans and are really excited for us," Ivar explained when the wedding was announced. "Sadly they can't come to the wedding. Their diaries are arranged months in advance and they're not around, but they adore James. Everyone adores him."
Though the royal family has not yet put out any official statement on the marriage, the Queen pledged that her government would "tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability, or sexual orientation," during her speech at the State Opening of Parliament last summer.
Likewise, both Prince Harry and Meghan have spoken out in support of the LGBTQ community. “Miss Markle said, and these were her exact words, ‘This is a basic human rights issue, not one about sexuality,’” Jacob Thomas, a winner of the Queen’s Young Leaders award for helping to reduce the suicide rate within the LBGTQ community in Australia, told reporters earlier this year.
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