Lord Ivar Mountbatten is gaining attention after he was announced as one of the many contestants on The Traitors.
Alan Cumming announced on the Today Show Wednesday, June 4, that Mountbatten would be joining season 3 of the competition series alongside reality TV veterans Boston Rob Mariano, Danielle Reyes, Tom Sandoval, Chrishelle Stause and more, among a total of 21 contestants. While Mountbatten hasn’t made a name for himself on TV, he has become well-known as an extended member — and the first openly gay member — of the royal family.
Ivar, who was born in March 1963, is the son of David Mountbatten, who is the 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, and Janet Mercedes Bryce. Through his father, Ivar is the grandson of Prince George of Battenberg and the great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria. Ivar’s father was the cousin of Prince Philip who married Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, making Ivar the first cousin once removed of Philip, a third cousin once removed of Elizabeth and a second cousin of King Charles III.
Ivar has been candid about how he considered Philip to be a father figure to him 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 to The Telegraph in April 2021. “Prince Philip was a wonderful listener; you could tell him anything as long as you were being honest and forthright. He was happy to listen to your thoughts. But if he had some advice he thought you ought to hear, he’d give it to you.”
As a member of the extended family, Ivar does not have any royal duties. He has previously worked as a geologist and businessman. Ivar is also the former director of the SCL Group, which was a strategic communication company. While Ivar is a member of the royal family, he understands why he is not involved in royal events as much as he once was a child.
“The family has got very large,” he told Tatler in 2019. “When we were younger we went to royal events all the time. But now that everyone has had children, quite rightly everything has slimmed down.”
While Ivar isn’t active with the royals, he does have a close relationship with some of them. He has maintained bonds with King Charles’ youngest brother Prince Edward and his wife Duchess Sophie. Ivar is the godfather to Edward and Sophie’s daughter Lady Louise Windsor.
Edward and Sophie are the godparents to two of Ivar’s children, daughters Ella and Alix, whom he shares with ex-wife Penny Mountbatten. (The exes, who split in 2011, also share daughter Luli.)
Ivar made history in 2016 when he became the first member of the royal family to openly be in a same-sex relationship with 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 “was incredibly supportive” about his and Coyle’s relationship.
