“Wait. Because I need to say this. It wasn’t an easy time. Before that my private life had been exactly that: private. Although of course everyone would speculate the moment I was even introduced to a girl close to my own age, and the media would contrive a bedpost-rattling love affair. There were contests and betting pools: ‘Choose a bride for young Prince Edgar.’ And it had to stop. I knew I was gay, and my family knew, but it was made clear that anything more public presented a real danger. My grandmother proposed that I lead a kind of double life—she listed numerous examples, in royal families, in our own family, since time began. But I asked her, was that what she really wanted? For me or for anyone? A life of endless deception?”

“Did she get it?”

“Eventually. For the most part. She wasn’t any sort of homophobe or puritan, but she was concerned. Not so much for the royal reputation, but for my safety. So I raised the question: what did she think my parents would’ve wanted me to do?”

“Oh my God.”

“She was at a loss, which never happens. With tears in her eyes. Because my mum and dad had been, as much as possible, free spirits. They’d cultivated friendships with artists and actors and writers. They were curious. And in fact, the flight they were on, it was en route to an enormous music festival, a fundraiser for AIDS research and health care.”

“I didn’t know.”

“And part of the tragedy, for Nana, was that royal couples are instructed to fly separately, to avoid such a catastrophic result. But my parents had scoffed—they were very much in love, and they’d wanted to experience the world together. And Nana has always blamed herself, for not being stricter, for not saving at least one of them.”

“So when you wanted to come out . . .”

“All she could forsee was further heartache. But she was aware, of how proud, and how accepting my parents would’ve been.”

“And when you did it, all I remember is total celebration. I was a senior in high school, and I saved your cover of People, and I kept showing it to everyone and telling them, look, he’s smiling. He’s so cool. It made such a difference.”

“But you were already out, weren’t you?”

“Yes, and my family was great, but I still felt, I guess maybe the way you did, that being out wasn’t just about me. It had to be about all of us. And you were our rock star.”