In an interview Sunday with the UK's Mail on Sunday, Lord Ivar Mountbatten became the first member of the British royal family to come out gay.

Lord Ivar, 53, is a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

He has three daughters with his ex-wife Penny and said that he struggled with his sexuality. He said that Penny knew that he was bisexual when they married in 1994.

“'Coming out' is such a funny phrase, but it's what I suppose I did in a rather roundabout way, emerging to a place I'm happy to be,” he told the paper. “I have struggled with my sexuality and in some ways I still do; it has been a real journey to reach this point.”

Last year, four years after his divorce, he met his partner, James Coyle, a 54-year-old airline cabin services director. Coyle said that he too has struggled with his sexuality.

“I was driven into the closet by not wanting to come to terms with who I was and facing friends and family in the early years,” Coyle said. “I buried it. I even had girlfriends as I tried to work out what I wanted to be. It was not an easy time in my teens or 20s. I'm just so pleased now to have found someone who I am happy to call my partner. My work involves a lot of travel. For the first time I have had someone to come home to.”