All The Kings And Queens Who Were Allegedly LGBTQ+

For much of history, LGBTQ royalty needed to hide their identities. Even though some societies embraced homosexuality, most refused to accept a gay monarch. But before we talk about LGBTQ kings and queens, let's start with the history of sexual identity.
The terms heterosexual and homosexual didn't exist until the 1860s. And until the 1930s, heterosexual meant an abnormal attraction to the opposite sex. For centuries, many societies didn't see sexuality in binary terms at all. Ancient Greeks and Renaissance Florentines took both male and female lovers. King Edward the second of England openly kissed his male lover on his wedding day. And the Roman emperor Hadrian named a city after his male lover. Many kings and queens needed to keep their sexuality quiet, but others defended their lifestyle openly.