David Garnett (6 children)

David Garnett (1892-1981) was a British writer and publisher. Although bisexual, he was primarily attracted to women throughout his life but had some noteable relationships with men (e.g. Duncan Grant below). He married twice and had two sons by his first wife, Rachel Marshall, and four daughters by his second wife, Angelica Bell.

Duncan Grant (1 child)

Duncan Grant (1885-1978) was a painter connected to the Bloomsbury Group. He was openly homosexual but for most of his life shared a house and his life in Sussex (Charleston) with another painter, Vanessa Bell, the sister of Virginia Woolf. He was the lover of John Maynard Keynes, the economist. He fathered one child with Vanessa Bell, Angelica Bell, who later married David Garnett, who had been one of her father's lovers (see above). The painting is a self portrait.

King James I of England (7 children)

James Stuart (1566-1625) was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and was King James VI of Scotland. He became King of England after the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. It seems the cry went up in London: "The King is dead! Long live the Queen!". There can be little doubt that James was bisexual all his life. His male "favourites" were notorious and he had adjoining bedchambers with them. He married Anne of Denmark and had at least seven children with her. The British royal family descends from James I.

The Duchess of Medina Sidonia (3 children)

Dona Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura, Duchess of Medina-Sidonia (1936-2008), was the 21st holder of the title. She was known as the "Red Duchess" for her opposition to General Franco, although she was not a communist. She married Leonardo Gonzales de Gregorio Marti in 1955. They had three children, two sons and a daughter. On her death bed she "married" Liliana Maria Dahlmann, who had been her "secretary" for 20 years.

Una, Lady Troubridge (1 child)

Una Troubridge (1887-1963) was the writer, translator and sculptress wife of Admiral Sir Ernest Thomas Troubridge and they had one daughter, Andrea. However, she is best known for her long-term relationship with the lesbian novelist, Radclyffe Hall. In the photograph Hall, known as "John" is standing, while Una, or "Vincenzo", is seated.

John Cheever (3 children)

John Cheever (1912-1982) was an American novelist and writer of short stories. He was married and had three children, one of whom, his daughter Susan Cheever, wrote candidly about her father's bisexuality.

Prince Philipp of Hesse (4 children)

Prince and Landgrave Philipp of Hesse (1896-1980) was married to Princess Mafalda of Italy. They had four children. After having been a high-ranking Nazi officer, he finished his life in Rome as an interior designer. Philipp was known to be bisexual and had a number of relationships with men, amongst whom the English poet, Siegfried Sassoon. This unfortunate photograph of him is currently the only one available.

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (4 children)

Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria (1861.1948) married Princess Louise of Bourbon-Parma and they had four children, two sons and two daughters. His bisexuality was well-known throughout his life.

7th Earl Beauchamp (7 children)

William Lygon, the 7th Earl Beauchamp (1872-1938) was a married man with seven children: three sons and four daughters by his wife, Lady Lettice Grosvenor. Her brother reported William's homosexuality to the King and Queen and he had to leave the UK and go into exile on the continent. His daughters, who were close to him, used to tell the young men who were visiting them for week-ends that they should lock their bedroom doors at night because their father would try to enter their rooms.

Lord Byron (2 children)

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), was the most famous poet of his generation, at home and abroad. "Mad, bad and dangerous to know", he was loved by and loved both women and men. A life-long bisexual, his last love poems were addressed to a young Greek. He had two children: as a married man he had one legitimate daughter with his wife; and he had another outside of matrimony, with Claire Clairmont, the half-sister of Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Simon Raven (1 child)

Another English writer, Simon Raven (1927-2001) was expelled from school for homosexual activities. In 1951 he married Susan Kilner and they had one son, Adam. He was bisexual all of his life with a definite preference for his own sex. The picture here is from a reprint of his biography and the caricature of Raven by Marc Boxer successfully conveys this unashamed roué.

William Somerset Maugham (1 child)

Maugham (1874-1965) was one of the most popular novelists and writers of his day. He married Syrie, who became an influential interior designer. Their one daughter was Liza Maugham. Maugham had two long-term relationships with men, firstly Gerald Haxton (1892-1944) his lover and companion for 30 years, and then Alan Searle, who stayed with him until his death.

Vita Sackville-West (2 children)

She was the wife of Sir Harold Nicolson. Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) was a well-known writer and gardener. She had two sons by Harold Nicolson (see below). She also took famous women for her lovers. Especially noteable were Violet Trefusis, the socialite, writer and great aunt of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Virginia Woolf, who wrote "Orlando" as a love offering for Vita.

Sir Harold Nicolson (2 children)

Harold Nicolson (1886-1968) was a politician, diplomat and diarist. He married the Hon. Victoria Sackville-West (see above) and they had two children, Nigel and Benedict, although he had regular relationships with his own sex.

William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (2 children)

Another writer, William Beckford of Fonthill Abbey (1760-1844) married and had two children, Margaret and Susan. Like Oscar Wilde and some others in this list, he left Britain because of a homosexual scandal. His descendants include Prince Albert of Monaco, the late Egon von Furstenberg, the late Princess Orietta Doria-Pamphilj and many noble and ordinary families of the world.

Oscar Wilde (2 children)

Our first mention is of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) because since his death he has been considered the personification of the homosexual. He was married and had two sons, Cyril and Vyvyan. His descendants are still living.