Lord Ivar Mountbatten is the first member of the extended British royal family to enter into a same-sex marriage.
On Monday, Queen’s cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten (55) married his boyfriend James Coyle. Ivar is the first member of the British royal family to enter into a same-sex marriage, reports 24sata.hr on September 26, 2018.
“A gospel choir serenaded them, and the toasts from their two best men saw guests raising flutes of Pol Roger, Churchill’s favourite champagne. There were no royal witnesses for this latest union, solemnised in the private chapel at Bridwell Park, where Lord and Lady Mountbatten settled and raised their family, and celebrated with a lavish reception in the orangery. But Ivar received the warmest of congratulations from his lifelong friend Prince Edward, to whose eldest child, Lady Louise, he is godfather,” writes Daily Mail. “The weekend-long events began with a welcome dinner for 30 hosted by the couple on Friday night. The ceremony itself began on Saturday afternoon, by which time another 30 guests had arrived. James and Ivar asked friends to make a donation to Regain, the spinal injury charity.”
Ivar is a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and a great-nephew of Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
After the royal wedding, the couple plans to go on a honeymoon trip. They have not yet decided between Greece and Croatia, but they really like these two destinations, according to Daily Mail.
Ivar and his ex-wife have three daughters who give him their full support. “When I told my eldest daughter Elli about the wedding, she tried to comfort me by saying I should not worry because it is not as scandalous as it used to be,” Ivar recalled the words of his daughter.
“I really wanted to do this, especially for James who was never been married. For me, marriage is not so important because I used to be in one, where I got my beautiful children. I insisted on this because I think this is very important to him. James did not have a stable life like me, so I want to afford him that,” said Lord Ivar speaking about his husband.
Translated from 24sata.hr (reported by Višnja Kragić Mahmutović).
