Gay royal wedding: Lord Mountbatten’s ex-wife will walk him down aisle
Lord Ivar Mountbatten (top left)
The first member of the royal family to come out as gay will be given away by his ex-wife in landmark royal wedding.
Just a few weeks after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot, Queen Elizabeth’s cousin announced that he will be tying the knot with his husband-to-be over the weekend.
Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who came out in 2016, has announced that his ex-wife will be walking him down the aisle on his big day.
Talking to the Daily Mail, Lord Mountbatten’s ex-wife Lady Penny Mountbatten said she was really excited for the wedding and feels quite emotional about walking her ex-husband down the aisle.
“It makes me feel quite emotional. I’m really very touched,” she said, before adding that their children were the ones to suggest she walk the lord down the aisle.
“It was the girls’ idea.”
Trooping the Colour (Chris Jackson/Getty)
Lady Mountbatten then went on to say how much she has gotten on with Lord Mountbatten’s new partner, James Coyle.
“You and I have got on from the first ten seconds of meeting each other, haven’t we?” she said in a joint interview.
Taking a minute to reflect, Lady Mountbatten talked about how Coyle has changed the lord for the better.
“What I don’t think Ivar realises is how much he has changed as a man since he ‘came out,’” she said.
“James is hugely responsible for that because he’s so much fun.”
Lady Mountbatten said that, since coming out, Lord Mountbatten has become much nicer and relaxed. She’s even given him a nickname.
“Ivar is so much more relaxed these days. He’s so much kinder. He’s become a great cook. I now call him Fanny Cradock,” she said.
This year’s first royal wedding was Harry and Meghan (Jane Barlow/Getty)
“He probably wasn’t even aware that by keeping his sexuality a secret it was really quite tormenting him. Now it’s ‘out’ he’s a completely different person. Everybody says they’ve never seen him happier.”
Lord Mountbatten is set to marry Coyle at a private chapel in Devon in front of the couple’s close friends and family.
However, the queen and her immediate family won’t be there.
“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,” Lord Mountbatten said.
