Meghan Merkle made history in May as the first black and American woman to marry into the British royal family. Less than a month later, the royal family announced plans for yet another historic union: Lord Ivar Mountbatten will marry James Coyle, his partner of two years, in the monarchy’s first-ever same-sex wedding later this summer.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mountbatten said the wedding would be held in a private chapel on his estate in Devon. While the members of the core royal family — meaning Queen Elizabeth II and her direct descendants — are not expected to attend, the couple has the full support of the royal family, Mountbatten told the Mail.
Mountbatten, a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and descendant of Queen Victoria, became the first Royal to publicly identify as gay in 2016. He has three children with his former wife Penny Mountbatten, who has been openly supportive of her husband’s relationship with Coyle. She said last week that she plans to walk Mountbatten down the aisle at the suggestion of their daughters.
While Mountbatten will go down in history books as the first Royal to marry a member of the same sex, news of his marriage isn’t raising eyebrows in the United Kingdom. According to data collected by the British national census in 2016, over 60 percent of the U.K. do not find anything wrong with same-sex relationships. Same-sex marriage was legalized in most parts of the U.K. four years ago, and while it is still not recognized in Northern Ireland, civil partnerships have been available since 2005.
