‘The kg and his hband’: The gay history of Brish royals - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• 5 GAY BRISH KGS AND QUEENS OM HISTORY
• THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY KGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND
• MEET THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MEMBER OF THE BRISH ROYAL FAY
• QUEEN ELIZABETH II LED THROUGH S OF CHANGE ON GAY RIGHTS, BUT HER LGBTQ LEGACY IS PLITED
• THE QUEEN HAS TURNED HER BACK ON THE GAY MUNY
• BRISH ROYAL FAY'S FIRST GAY WEDDG: LORD MOUNTBATTEN TO MARRY JAM COYLE
• THE QUEEN FENDG GAY RIGHTS? SHE N'T EVEN SAY THE WORDS OUT LOUD
• ‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS

5 GAY BRISH KGS AND QUEENS OM HISTORY

Centuri before homosexualy was ma legal between nsentg adults 1967, the ‘love that dare not speak s name’ was viewed as a s England, particularly by the church, and technilly punishable by ath. It is not surprisg that many gay and bisexual monarchs kept their love liv wh members of the same sex a closely guard secret. Known as ‘Ruf’ due to his ddy plexn and red hair, the third son of William the Conqueror beme Kg of England 1087 and is assumed to have been gay or bisexual.

The fourth son of Henry II, he is also believed to have been homosexual spe marryg Berengaria of Navarre.

But while the Netherlands, which 2001 beme the first untry to legalize gay marriage, has paved the wave for a queer royal to officially wear the crown, LGBTQ people have long been dog so unofficially. (The term “cut sleeve” remaed a Che phemism for male homosexualy for centuri.

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE GAY KGS AND QUEENS OF ENGLAND

The liph’s sexualy has been the source of some bate: Acrdg to the French medievalist Évariste Lévi-Provençal, the phrase “hubb al-walad, ” found 16th-century historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari’s pendium "Nafh at-Tib" reference to Al-Hakam II, translat as a “preference for boys, ” though other scholars mata refers to paternal Medieval Europe scholar Francis Prado-Vilar wrote that knowledge of Al-Hakam’s homosexualy the urt of Córdoba “enuraged the ambns of the factns gathered around his much younger brother, Prce al-Mughira. ”“In his youth his lov seem to have been entirely homosexual, ” queer studi scholar Louis Crompton wrote “Male Love and Islamic Law Arab Spa. Young as “​​the most proment homosexual figure the early morn perd.

)“To the shock of many urtiers, the pair were monstratively affectnate to each other public, spe Jam’ var proclamatns agast homosexualy, ” Daniel Smh wrote “Love Letters of Kgs and Queens. Frerick the Great of Pssia (1712 - 1786)Even his lifetime, this Pssian royal was wily mored to be a homosexual, though that term wouldn’t be ed till nearly 90 years after his years after the kg’s ath, his physician Johann Ge Rter von Zimmermann published a book which he sperately tried to dispel gossip Frerick had a “Grecian taste love.

MEET THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MEMBER OF THE BRISH ROYAL FAY

And rather than let that secret out, Frerick pretend to be gay, “so that he would ntue to appear virile and pable of sexual terurse, albe wh men. But he did ltle to obscure his sexualy: Sanssouci, his palace Potsdam, was filled wh homoerotic art and, across Europe, “l Potsdamists” beme slang for kg allegedly pursued the Veian philosopher Franc Algarotti and even famed French philosopher Voltaire, who lived wh him at Sanssouci, though ’s not certa if eher relatnship was Voltaire’s ath 1778, a mancript of his memoir tailg Frerick’s homosexual tennci tail was stolen and published the Netherlands.

”The archde spent the rt of his life secln at Klsheim Palace near Salzburg, where he died at the age of 76 1919, three years after his brother’s ath and one year after the Atro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved after the end of World War II of Buganda (1868 - 1903)Discsn of Uganda’s treatment of homosexualy ually settl on Print Yoweri Meveni’s “Kill the Gays” bill, but this 19th century kabaka, or kg, of Buganda allegedly had sexual relatnships wh men along wh his 16 1886, Mwanga II orred the btal torture and aths of dozens of urtiers and pag, wh many burned alive. “I hear there was homosexualy Mwanga’s palace, ” Meveni told a crowd of thoands on Martyr Day 2010, the Atlantic reported.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II LED THROUGH S OF CHANGE ON GAY RIGHTS, BUT HER LGBTQ LEGACY IS PLITED

That's thanks to playwright Christopher Marlowe, who 1594 published Edward II, wily nsired “the gay, homosexual, queer play of the Renaissance, ” says Judh Haber, an English profsor at tumultuo reign of England’s Edward II lasted om 1307 to 1327, but his legacy would lger much longer the Brish nscns. There is never nclive evince of jt what a given monarch was gettg up to the bedroom, and as the panoply of LGBTQ+ scriptors and tegori had yet to be vented, ’s somewhat accurate by fn to say a kg was gay.

Stewart not that the play begs s eback the 1890s, when Osr Wil was beg tried for homosexualy. The first same-sex kiss on Brish televisn took place durg the BBC's broadst of the play, starrg none other than Ian the Guardian, McKellen’s star Timothy Wt remembered him portrayg Edward as “unapologetilly gay, ” an artistic choice which ed “somethg of a stir.

THE QUEEN HAS TURNED HER BACK ON THE GAY MUNY

It might’ve been n by a gaggle of gays, but that wasn’t the pot. It also mak the analogy to 1990s homophobia leral, renrg Edward’s army as group of gay rights protters, plete wh posters readg “Get your filthy hands off our bodi.

BRISH ROYAL FAY'S FIRST GAY WEDDG: LORD MOUNTBATTEN TO MARRY JAM COYLE

” The film is still herald as one of the rnerston of the New Queer Cema II’s cultural profile has also, at tim, reflected our culture's ep homophobia.

Jt over a ago, when gay rights activist Peter Tatchell sought to nmn homophobia Northern Ireland, he suggted Kg William III as yet another possibly queer Imag/Michael StillwellBetter known as William of Orange (or Kg Billy Stland), Queen Anne's precsor reigned over England, Stland, and Ireland om 1689 to 1702. As Tatchell said to the Belfast Telegraph, “It is particularly hypocril for unnist policians to play the homophobic rd when their hero William of Orange had male lovers.

While he likely didn’t nvce any avowedly homophobic lawmakers to see the light, his historilly-backed claims ma headl, reigng a bate about LGBTQ+ acceptance Northern Ireland. Even though some societi embraced homosexualy, most refed to accept a gay monarch.

THE QUEEN FENDG GAY RIGHTS? SHE N'T EVEN SAY THE WORDS OUT LOUD

But before we talk about LGBTQ+ kgs and queens, let's start wh the history of sexual terms heterosexual and homosexual didn't exist until the 1860s.

‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS

To others, though, Richard I is a gay in. England’s ‘gay’ kgs and queens fied society – durg perhaps the most homophobic era of human history – to have same-sex lovers.