How The Traitors' Lord Ivar Mountbatten Met Husband James Coyle
Lord Ivar Mountbatten met his life partner in 2015 after a case of mistaken identity.
When British royal Lord Ivar Mountbatten was declared a winner of The Traitors Season 3, alongside three of his fellow competitors, he earned his spot in the history books as part of the largest group of Faithfuls to ever take the crown.
But breaking boundaries is nothing new for Mountbatten. The 61-year-old is also considered the first openly gay member of the British royal family in the crown's history.
Mountbatten has some deep roots within Britain's royal family tree and is the second cousin to King Charles, according to The Daily Mail. He was also the third cousin once removed from the late Queen Elizabeth II and a first cousin, once removed, from Prince Phillip.
Mountbatten’s epic love story with husband James Coyle — whom he married in a small, elegant ceremony in 2018 — came after a decades-long internal struggle to embrace his true self and marked a significant milestone for the once-conservative, tradition-steeped royal family.
“People will look back and say, ‘What’s the big deal?'” he told The Daily Mail of the groundbreaking nuptials. “But for our generation, it was.”
Growing up as an extended member of the royal family, Mountbatten felt bound by a set of traditional expectations and although he’d always felt an attraction to men, it was a side of himself that he felt he had to conceal for much of his early years.
“I had a really happy childhood but I could never tell my parents I was gay,” he explained to the news outlet. “Where I grew up, gay men were called poofs, queers, everything derogatory under the sun.”
To learn more about Mountbatten’s happily ever after and the surprising role his ex-wife, Lady Penny Mountbatten, played in the ceremony, read on below:
Who Is Lord Ivar Mountbatten’s First Wife, Lady Penny Mountbatten?
Mountbatten left the UK to study geology and get a degree from Vermont’s Middlebury College, but he returned to England in his late 20s. That’s when he first crossed paths with his now-ex wife Penny, the daughter of a Sotheby’s representative. The pair began to date and Mountbatten admitted to her that he’d been attracted to men in the past.
“I married Ivar with a completely open heart and an open mind about sexuality,” she told The Daily Mail. “Ivar had told me he was bisexual before he proposed. I didn't have any fears about it because I loved him, and love conquers all, doesn't it?”
The couple married in a lavish ceremony in 1994 and went on to welcome three daughters, Ella, Alexandra and Louise.
“I loved Penny when we were married, as I still do very much, and I loved our family unit,” he said.
But over time the relationship fell apart and the two amicably divorced in 2011.
Who is Lord Ivar Mountbatten’s husband, James Coyle?
By then, Mountbatten was ready to follow his heart and came out as gay. He met husband James Coyle, an airline cabin services director, at a bar in a Switzerland ski resort in 2015.
As the pair would later tell the Tatler, Coyle mistook Mountbatten for his ski instructor and shouted out a greeting across the bar. It would turn out to be a happy accident and the couple quickly hit it off, falling in love over many nights spent on the phone together.
The couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in 2018, with Penny walking Mountbatten down the aisle.
“Ivar is so much more relaxed these days,” Penny remarked in 2018. “He's so much kinder. He's become a great cook. I now call him Fanny Cradock. He probably wasn't even aware that by keeping his sexuality a secret it was really quite tormenting him. Now it's 'out' he's a completely different person.”
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Mountbatten and Coyle opted to tie the knot in the chapel at Bridwell, the Devon home they now share and rent out as an event venue.
According to James, it’s a “very modern marriage.”
“There was no proposal, just an acceptance of this great love. He cares. I care. The girls are very accepting,” he told The Daily Mail.
While James was described in the Tatler as the “more domestic” of the two and is someone who loves hosting and making their guests at ease, it’s no surprise that Mountbatten is the more adventurous of the pair, often convincing James to go skydiving or push his boundaries on a vacation.
“One thing I will say about Ivar is that you’re always outside your comfort zone,” James quipped. “He’s always making me do things I would never have done before. But when I look back I think, ‘Actually, that was quite enjoyable.’”
How to watch The Traitors
All episodes of The Traitors Seasons 1-3 are available to stream right now on Peacock.
