The first royal same sex marriage has officially taken place

And we’re here for it.

2018 has definitely been the year of exciting royal news and celebrations.

Aside from the Queen turning 92 (twice), this year has seen an unprecedented amount of royal milestones - and it’s only September.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcomed Prince Louis in April, Pippa Middleton then announced that she was also pregnant in June, and Zara and Mike Tindall welcomed their second daughter just months ago.

And in terms of weddings, the list only grows.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May wedding will go down as one of the most touching in royal history, and his cousin, Princess Eugenie, will be following him up the aisle, marrying her longtime partner, Jack Brooksbank, at Windsor Castle next month.

The royal wedding on everyone’s lips this week however involves a senior member of the royal family, and it’s one for the ages, breaking royal history.

The happy couple? The Queen’s third cousin, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, and his boyfriend James Coyle.

That’s right. Their happy union took place this weekend, marking the first same-sex wedding in the extended royal family’s marital history - and to make the news better, the news of their engagement was broken during Pride month.

Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 55, has three children with his ex-wife Penny, who he separated from in 2011, before he came out in 2016, and to make the wedding even more special, she walked her ex-husband down the aisle.

‘It makes me feel quite emotional. I’m really very touched,’ Lady Penny Mountbatten explained in advance of the wedding, going on to announce that their children had been the ones to suggest it.

‘Being a Mountbatten was never the problem,’ Ivar went on to explain to the Daily Mail of his inability to ‘come out’. ‘It was the generation into which I was born. When I was growing up, it was known as “the love that dare not speak its name.”’

The couple tied the knot at a private chapel in Devon, and unfortunately for well, everyone, the Queen and co. were not in attendance.

‘Sadly they can’t come to the wedding,’ Lord Mountbatten explained of the Windsors. ‘Their diaries are arranged months in advance and they’re not around, but they adore James. Everyone adores him.’

Congratulations to Ivar and James!