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

Contents:

• ‘THE KG AND HIS HBAND’: THE GAY HISTORY OF BRISH ROYALS
• BRISH ROYAL FAY'S FIRST GAY WEDDG: LORD MOUNTBATTEN TO MARRY JAM COYLE
• QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LORD IVAR MOUNTBATTEN SAYS WAS 'ALARMG' TO BE NAMED 'THE FIRST GAY ROYAL'
• GAY ROYAL WEDDG! QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CO IVAR WILL MARRY PARTNER — AND HIS EX-WIFE WILL GIVE HIM AWAY
• MEET THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MEMBER OF THE BRISH ROYAL FAY
• QUEEN'S CO COM OUT AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ROYAL

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

Manvendra Sgh Gohil beme the first openly gay prce the world when he me out 2006.

Queen Elizabeth's Lord Ivar Mountbatten me out as gay  September 2016. Philippe I, the De of Orléans, was known and often cricized for drsg women's clothg and his homosexualy was monly acknowledged.

" While the terms gay, queer, or even bisexual were rarely directly ed to scribe the royal, his relatnships wh men were well-documented. Philippe later married Prcs Palate Elizabeth Charlotte, who slept separate bedchambers and was generally fivg of what she lled "the Italian vice, " a lloquial term for homosexualy that era.

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

Shortly after he took the throne followg the abditn of his father Kg Victor Emmanuel III, Umberto was outed the prs as homosexual. Acrdg to World of Wonr, he also told an Italian newspaper that gay clubs like the Flamgo were among his favore plac to spend time and equently partied on Fire Island, a known lotn for the LGBTQ+ muny to e together. Lord Ivar Mountbatten is the first extend member of the Brish royal fay to e out as gay.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who is related to both Queen Elizabeth and her late hband Prce Philip, married his partner Jam Coyle 2018 two years after g out publicly as gay. Prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil publicly me out an terview to a lol newspaper 2006, beg the first openly gay royal the untry.

He was 41 at the 2018, homosexualy was illegal India unr a lonial era law that mand up to life imprisonment for anyone mtg sexual acts "agast the orr of nature. Today, Gohil is fightg to outlaw gay nversn therapy India and fight the stigma agast the LGBTQ muny the untry.

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LORD IVAR MOUNTBATTEN SAYS WAS 'ALARMG' TO BE NAMED 'THE FIRST GAY ROYAL'

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.)Dong was granted many honors, eventually beg ma manr of the ary, and he and his fay lived si the imperial pound.Acrdg to historian Brent Hsch, many Han emperors reportedly had “male favor” who were listed both the “Book of Han” and the “Shiji,” or “Rerds of the Grand Historian.”“It is not women alone who n e their looks to attract the ey of the ler,” the "Shiji" reads, acrdg to Ban Gu’s “History of Early Cha.” “Courtiers and nuchs n play that game as well. 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 love.The 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.” “This exclivy was a problem when he succeed to the throne, sce was cumbent upon the new liph to produce a male heir.”Dpe mors of havg a male harem, Al-Hakam did marry a Basque ncube named Subh, but reportedly gave her the mascule nickname Jafar.

Young as “​​the most proment homosexual figure the early morn perd.” Married to Anne of Denmark, Jam is thought to have had relatnships wh several male urtiers — most notably, Gee Villiers, whom he ma the Earl and later the De of Buckgham. (In the early 2000s, rtoratn work on Apethorpe Palace revealed a secret passageway nnectg Jam’ and Villiers’ bedchambers.)“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.”A popular epigram at the time pared the Jabean monarch to his Tudor precsor, Elizabeth I, clarg, “Elizabeth was Kg, now Jam is Queen.” Contemporary poet Théophile Vi put more bluntly: “It is well known that the kg of England f---- the De of Buckgham.”Fendg off claims of favorism, Jam proclaimed, “You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckgham more than anyone else.” “I wish … to not to have thought to be a fect,” he add, “for J Christ did the same, and therefore I nnot be blamed. “The Favoure,” a somewhat fictnalized 2018 acunt of Anne’s relatnships wh Sarah and Abigail — plete wh lbian liaisons — earned Olivia Colman a bt actrs Osr as the nflicted queen.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 ath.Two 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.” In “Frerick the Great: Kg of Pssia,” T.C.W.

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 Frerick’s proclivi were apparent at a young age: As a 16-year-old crown prce, he was ught havg an affair wh a 17-year-old page. 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 homosexuals.The 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 sexual.After Voltaire’s ath 1778, a mancript of his memoir tailg Frerick’s homosexual tennci tail was stolen and published the Netherlands.

GAY ROYAL WEDDG! QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CO IVAR WILL MARRY PARTNER — AND HIS EX-WIFE WILL GIVE HIM AWAY

“The Vienne are very tolerant of sndals imperial and aristocratic circl,” the paper wrote, “but Ludwig Viktor’s affairs proved to be too much even for them.”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 I.Mwanga 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 wiv.In 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.

MEET THE FIRST OPENLY GAY MEMBER OF THE BRISH ROYAL FAY

Herage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo2/7Philippe I, De of Orléans, 1640-1701Kg Louis XIV’s younger brother was openly gay and often wore women's clothg, wh the French urt beg fairly tolerant pared to other untri the 17th century.

General Photographic Agency / Getty Imag4/7Kg Umberto II of Italy, 1904-1983Italy's last Kg was the subject of homophobic reportg the Italian prs, beg outed 1943 as the Facist ernment sought to 'discred' him as ler. Atrian Archiv / Imagno / Getty Imag5/7Archde Ludwig Viktor of Atria, 1842- 1919Another openly gay royal, Archde Ludwig was the younger brother of Atria's ler Emperor Franz Joseph I.

He was bt known for his patronage of the arts and his philanthropy, chewg a ary Sanrs / ANL / Shutterstock6/7Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 1963 - prentPictured here on the right wh his hband Jam Coyle, Mountbatten beme the first member of the Brish royal fay to e out as openly gay when he announced he was datg Coyle.

QUEEN'S CO COM OUT AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY ROYAL

The great, great, great grandson of Queen Victoria and the great-nephew of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, he is the Queen's Le Segreta / AIDES & Lk / Getty Imag7/7Prce Manvendra Sgh Gohil, 1965 - prentAs profiled January 2021 issue of Tatler, Prce Manvendra was hailed as hero when he me out as gay 2006, but vastatgly, his fay has disowned him. ”The speculatn that Edward II’s relatnships wh the men went beyond iendship was fueled by Christopher Marlowe’s 16th-century play “Edward II”, which is often noted for s homoerotic portrayal of Edward II and VI and I, who reigned over Stland and later England and Ireland until his ath 1625, attracted siar scty for his male favor, a term ed for panns and advisers who had special preference wh monarchs.