EXCLUSIVE: Is the Monarchy Ready to Come Out?
palace strategists are quietly reevaluating their appeal to marginalized communities. could a queer love story be their next move?
Every June, like clockwork, profiles in Tatler and carousels on royal watchers’ feeds rehash the life of Lord Ivar Mountbatten—the late Queen’s third cousin once removed, and the first (and still only) openly gay member of the royal family. His 2016 coming out and 2018 wedding to James Coyle are treated as genteel touchstones of royal “progress,” even if Ivar has never been a working royal or even particularly close to the throne. (He did, however, have a role on The Traitors US this year!)
This queer story, as it approaches its tenth anniversary in the public sphere, still feels tidy, contained, and safe. But what if its ubiquity is more than that?
