King Charles' cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten who's joining the Traitors US is the first openly gay royal who married his 'gorgeous beast' husband with his ex-wife's blessing - and is selling his country estate amid rising costs

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Lord Ivar Mountbatten, a cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, is set to star on the third season of The Traitors US.

His appearance on the programme, which is hosted by actor Alan Cumming, is not his first foray into reality television, having previously appeared on ITV productions Keeping Up with the Aristocrats in 2022, and The Queen and her Cousins in 2021.

Lord Mountbatten, 61, who is the son of Janet Mercedes Bryce and the late David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven is a second cousin of King Charles.

He was a first cousin once removed of the late Prince Philip and third cousin, once removed, of Queen Elizabeth II.

Despite not being a working royal, the farmer, geologist, and businessman is known as the 'first openly gay royal', and is the first known member of the extended British Royal family to be in a same-sex marriage.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten and Lady Penny pictured on their wedding day in 1994. The event was attended by Prince Edward and the then-Sophie Rees Jones (now the Duchess of Edinburgh )

Now, Lord Ivar Mountbatten (pictured, left) is married to James Coyle (pictured, right), making him the first known member of the extended royal family to have a same sex marriage

Lord Ivar married airline cabin services director James Coyle - who his ex-wife Penny once described as a 'gorgeous beast' - at Bridwell Park, Ivar's Grade-I listed home in Devon, in 2018.

The union followed his divorce from Lady Penny Mountbatten, with whom he tied the knot in 1994 in a wedding attended by Prince Edward and the then-Sophie Rees Jones (now the Duchess of Edinburgh), and then split from in 2011.

He remains on good terms with his ex-wife, with whom he shares three daughters - Ella, 28, Alix, 26, and 21-year-old Luli. One of Ella's godparents is Prince Edward, who, along with wife Sophie, is also a godparent to Alix.

The former couple were so amicable after their split, that Lady Penny gave Ivar away at his second wedding.

Speaking ahead of the nuptials, Lady Penny said: 'It was the girls' idea. It makes me feel quite emotional. I'm really very touched.'

Adding that it was 'not at all' odd to be giving away her ex-husband, Penny added that she and Ivar's now-husband James got on well 'from the first 10 seconds of meeting each other'.

She added that Ivar 'changed so much' after coming out, saying: '[He] is so much more relaxed these days. 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. Everybody says they've never seen him happier.'

As a member of the extended royal family, Lord Ivar is pictured on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour in 2005 (pictured L-R: Lord Ivar, Prince William the then-Duchess of Cornwall, then-Prince Charles, Prince Edward, and the late Queen Elizabeth II)

Speaking at the same time about the friendship he and David share with Penny, Ivar said: 'We really are a funny threesome,' then laughing, added: 'Not in that way.' 

Despite appearing to have one of the happiest marriages in the aristocratic circles within which they mixed, privately Lord Ivar was discretely exploring his sexuality while wed to Penny.

Ahead of his wedding to David, he said: 'Penny accepted me for who I was, so perhaps I relaxed and felt I could explore that part of me as our marriage matured. Maybe what happened is, with me being so open, I'd mention it to Penny and that would make her upset.

'Perhaps, on reflection, I shouldn't have said anything but, again, I don't want ever to hide anything from anybody.'

Penny responded: 'But I always asked for and demanded complete honesty from Ivar. Perhaps that is a self-destructive part of me, but I wanted to know. I gave him his freedom because I wanted him to be happy.'

Lord Ivar (pictured third from left) is photographed holidaying with the royals, arriving at Scrabster Harbour in Scotland

Lord Ivar added he that was 'never unhappy in [his and Penny's] marriage', explaining: 'I adored Penny - really loved her. But I always describe it as trying to get a square peg into a round hole. Deep, deep down, since her childhood, Penny hasn't valued herself very highly and couldn't accept I loved her.'

He said he remembers Penny saying she wanted  'someone who wants me for me', adding that 'I couldn't give you that'.

And so, 15 years after their wedding, Penny left him. Describing her decision, she said: 'I gave back all the chattels, all the Mountbatten jewels and left with nothing.

'There was quite a lot of judgment - "why has she done this?" - because hardly anyone knew about Ivar's sexuality, which was hard to swallow.

'But I was approaching 40 and thought, "it's now or never. I'm going to stay in this marriage, where I don't feel our relationship can ever be whole, or leave". I knew Ivar couldn't be his authentic self unless I left. We both had to take wing and be the people we needed to be.'

Lady Penny gave her blessing to her ex-husband's new union, saying it was acceptable to everyone, notably to their daughters because of 'the character of James, the nature of the beast - the gorgeous beast'.

The rest of his close and extended family, including his lifelong friend Prince Edward, also approved of the match.

During the same interview before the wedding, Ivar said: 'Sophie and Edward know of our plans and are really excited for us. Sadly they can't come to the wedding. Their diaries are arranged months in advance and they're not around, but they adore James. Everyone adores him.' 

Bridwell Park (pictured) in Devon is Lord Ivar Mountbatten's grade I listed home, which is now available to hire for events including weddings

Ivar and James are currently thought to be living together in Ivar's country pile in Devon, the grade I listed Bridwell Park that he used to share with Penny and their daughters.

However, they recently put the property on the market for £5.5 million amid rising costs, following two previous unsuccessful attempts to sell the home. 

However, according to reports, Lord Ivar and James appear to have every intention of remaining at the property.

In a statement released earlier this year, Lord Mountbatten said that the site in Uffculme, Devon, - which features a Georgian house, orangery and chapel across 100 acres of landscaped late 18th century deer park - would be placed on the open market.

He wrote: 'James and I would like to advise our visitors, Friends of Bridwell members, subscribers, event clients and suppliers of news that Bridwell will this week be placed on the open market with both Knight Frank Commercial and Residential divisions.

'Our aim is to find an investor to join us,' explained Ivar, adding that he and James will 'carefully review how we can make best use of the house and the parkland'.

In early 2023, in a bid to cover the park's overheads, he introduced admission fees. However, these were scrapped in February this year after the additional fees failed to bring in as much cash as first thought.

Lord Mountbatten said: 'Sadly, there is no getting away from the fact that membership and general admission income hasn't strengthened our position as much as we hoped or needed.

'From February 1, I will be lifting all admission charges to the Orangery Cafe and Parkland.

FRIENDS: Lord Ivar Mountbatten (pictured, right) with his ex-wife Penny (pictured, centre) and then-fiance James Coyle (pictured, left)

'My aim is to keep the wolf from the door by maintaining healthy visitor numbers across the seven day week and to encourage everyone in our local and wider community to feel welcome to visit us.'

The property is currently available for hire, for weddings and other events.  Among them is the Queer Spirit Festival, which was held there last year, prompting headlines.

Ahead of the 2023 event, organisers described it as five days of ‘community, pleasure, play, and enrichment for body, mind, and soul’. 

Revellers were invited to enjoy a ‘sacred sexuality temple,’ as well as an ‘adults-only sauna’ and a range of workshops on subjects ranging from ‘sexual liberation to kink’. 

Speaking ahead of the festival, Lord Ivar said: 'It's a family festival, so children are welcome. 

'They [Queer Spirit] are paying quite a lot of money, so we’re just the venue.'

He added: 'We have a deer fence that goes all the way around [the estate] and there’s no alcohol involved. I said, “Why don’t you have alcohol?” They said, “It’s spiritual and family-focused".

'It will be quite a laugh and my children are frightfully excited about it.'

Now, Lord Ivar has hit the headlines once more due to his impending appearance on The Traitors US.

The programme, which is set in Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands, features a similar set-up to the BBC series The Traitors, which is hosted by Claudia Winkleman.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten (pictured, left) is photographed with his husband James Coyle (pictured, right) after their wedding ceremony

However, the US version, which is hosted by actor Alan Cumming, features celebrities rather than members of the public.

Alongside Lord Ivar Mountbatten, the programme, which will be available to British viewers via streaming service Peacock, will feature Britney Spears' estranged husband Sam Asghari and Vanderpump Rules star Tom Sandoval among others.

Contestants are divided into two groups - the faithfuls, and a smaller group called the traitors.

With $250,000 (£195,785) up for grabs, the aim of the traitors is to eliminate other contestants from the competition.

Promoting the upcoming season, Alan Cumming said: 'This is sure to be the most treacherous season yet.'