Cavalry celebrates first gay wedding

THE Household Cavalry – one of Britain's oldest and most distinguished regiments – has celebrated its first gay wedding.

Lance Corporal James Wharton, 23, has been joined in a civil partnership with Thom McCaffrey, 21, a flight attendant, only ten years after the army lifted a ban on homosexuals.

The regiment escorts the Queen at state occasions and boasts two of her grandsons as officers.

The couple, both from Wrexham, took part in the ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London before a reception at the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment's Knightsbridge barracks.

Wharton said: "The entire regiment has been really supportive.

"When I went to ask the Squadron Leader, Major Nana Twumasi-Ankrah, for permission to get married, he just said, 'This is fantastic, congratulations'. The lads joked it was the gay event of the year."

Lieutenant Colonel Crispin Lockhart, Wharton's commanding officer, said: "The Household Cavalry has a fine tradition of leading from the front, so it is unsurprising that we continue to represent the face of the modern Army."