Richard Coles has admitted to misleading his bosses about the nature of his relationship wth his late husband David. While heterosexual clergy are not required to be celibate, it is still a requirement for gay clergy.
Due to this stipulation, star Richard assured the church their relationship was non-sexual. However, he subsequently confessed that this was a lie to allow him to keep his job as a vicar.
In an interview with in February this year, he admitted: “I felt sometimes like I was in the resistance and they were the Gestapo. I’m not the first person to find themselves obliged to lie for institutional reasons in the Church of England.”
For most of the marriage, he worked as a vicar at St Mary The Virgin Church on Finedon, near Peterborough, where he was based from 2011 to 2022.
Although gay clergy must remain celibate, the House of Bishops, which is responsible for church teaching, ruled in 2005 that being in a civil partnership is not incompatible with holy orders.
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Richard Coles kept the truth about his marriage from his church bosses. (Image: Getty)
David and Richard took advantage of this ruling and they entered into a civil partnership three years after they met in 2007 with David taking Richard’s surname.
Sadly, in 2019, tragedy struck when David, also a Reverend, died just days before of liver disease caused by the alcohol addiction that had gripped him since he was a teenager. He was just 43 years old.
Richard announced his death on , thanking the “brilliant teams” who looked after him at Kettering General Hospital.
Two years later, in an interview with the intimating it was “full of comedy”.
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Richard Coles and his husband David began their relationship in 2007. (Image: Instagram)
“David’s death was actually full of comedy, which made me and him laugh when he was in a fit state to appreciate what was going on,” he recalled.
“Medics, undertakers and clergy have a black sense of humour, but I’m not sure it’s something for public consumption!”
Richard also admitted David was very private about his health and didn’t want to make it public knowledge that he was dying.
“When David was dying, he didn’t want anybody to know and yet his physical deterioration was obvious, ” he said. “So we’re always on patrol, aren’t we? Of what we are prepared to release to the public.”