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Lord Ivar Mountbatten
David M. Bennett/Getty Images for DockersLord Ivar Mountbatten gaining attention as a contestant on Traitors — but what is his connection to the royal family?
Alan Cumming announced on Today Show in June 2024 it will be Mountbatten entering season 3 competition series alongside reality TV veterans Boston Rob Mariano, Danielle Reyes, Tom Sandoval, Chrishelle Stause and others, among a total of 21 contestants. While Mountbatten did not make it big on television, he became known as an extended member – and the first openly gay member – of the royal family.
Ivar, who was born in March 1963, is a son David Mountbattenwho is 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, a Janet Mercedes Bryce. Through his father, Ivar is a grandson Prince George of Battenberg and great-great-great-grandson Queen Victoria. Ivar’s father was a cousin prince philip who got married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, making Ivar a first cousin once removed of Philip, a third cousin once removed of Elizabeth, and a second cousin King Charles III.
Ivar was candid about how he considered Philip to be his father after his dad died in 1970.
“In later years I would sit with him and ask endless questions about my father. It was wonderful to have someone who could tell me everything about him,” he said The Telegraph in April 2021. “Prince Philip was a great listener; you could tell him anything as long as you were honest and direct. He enjoyed hearing your thoughts. But if he had any advice he thought you should hear, he’d give it to you.”
As a member of the extended family, Ivar has no royal duties. He previously worked as a geologist and businessman. Ivar is also a former director of the SCL Group, which was a strategic communications company. Although Ivar is a member of the royal family, he understands why he is not as involved in royal events as he once was as a child.
“The family has grown a lot,” he said Tatler in 2019. “When we were younger, we used to go to royal events all the time. But now that they’ve all had children, it’s quite rightly slimmed everything down.’
Ivar is not active with the royal family, but has a close relationship with some of them. He maintained ties with the youngest brother of King Charles prince edward and his wife Duchess Sophie. Ivar is the godfather of Edward and Sophie’s daughter Lady Louise Windsor.
Edward and Sophie are godparents to Ivar’s two children, daughters Ella and Alix, whom he shares with his ex-wife. Penny Mountbatten. (The exes, who split in 2011, also have a daughter, Luli.)
Ivar made history in 2016 when he became the first member of the royal family to be openly in a same-sex relationship with his now-husband. James Coyle. The couple tied the knot in 2018 and were the first British royals to have a same-sex wedding. While chatting with The Independent in 2023, Ivar shared that his family had been “incredibly supportive” of his and Coyle’s relationship.