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While it’s easier today to find LGBTQ+ icons and role models, it can sometimes feel as though there were few prominent queer figures in history before the 20th century. Due to widespread discrimination, many LGBTQ+ individuals were forced to remain closeted, making it challenging to identify openly queer historical figures.

Fortunately, historians have uncovered evidence suggesting that many well-known historical figures were part of the LGBTQ+ community. Here are nine famous individuals you may not have realised were queer.

1. Julius Caesar

The Roman general and statesman Julius Caesar was frequently mocked for his alleged relationships with men. According to historical accounts, he had an affair with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia and was ridiculed by rivals as the “Queen of Bithynia.”

During one of his triumphs, soldiers reportedly chanted:

“Caesar may have conquered the Gauls, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar.”

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Rumours also linked Caesar to his engineer Mamurra and to Octavian, who later became Emperor Augustus.

2. William Shakespeare

The sexuality of England’s greatest playwright has long been debated. Many scholars believe Shakespeare had relationships with men, citing the Merchant of Venice’s themes of same-sex love and his Sonnets, 126 of which are addressed to a man.

Sir Ian McKellen has supported this view, saying in 2012: “I’d say Shakespeare slept with men… Shakespeare obviously enjoyed sex with men as well as women.”

William Shakespeare

Gregory Doran, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, has also noted how some interpretations of Shakespeare’s work have been “whitewashed” to remove evidence of his queerness.

3. Florence Nightingale

Known as the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale was also romantically involved with multiple women, according to the book Superstars: Twelve Lesbians Who Changed the World (1993).

Florence Nightingale

One of her great loves was her cousin Marianna Nicholson, and she reportedly disguised herself as Marianna’s brother, Henry, to avoid scrutiny over their relationship.

4. Leonardo da Vinci

The legendary Renaissance artist, scientist, and inventor Leonardo da Vinci lived as an openly gay man in 15th-century Florence, as detailed in Walter Isaacson’s book Leonardo da Vinci: The Biography.

Leonardo da Vinci

His personal notebooks reveal relationships with younger male companions, while his artwork frequently explored male sexuality. Da Vinci also faced multiple accusations of sodomy during his lifetime, and his writings expressed attraction to men alongside a notable disinterest in relationships with women.

5. Roberta Cowell

British World War II fighter pilot

Roberta Cowell

and racing driver Roberta Cowell was one of the first people to undergo gender confirmation surgery.

Captured during the war, she spent five months as a prisoner of war, enduring extreme hardship. In 1951, she underwent one of the first successful vaginoplasty surgeries performed by pioneering plastic surgeons Sir Harold Gillies and Ralph Millard.

6. Selma Lagerlöf

Selma Lagerlöf was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1909). In 1992, her letters to her long-term partner, writer Sophie Elkan, were published in Du lär mig att bli fri (You Teach Me to Be Free).

The couple exchanged thousands of heartfelt letters over their decades-long relationship. Lagerlöf once wrote to Elkan: “I have you with me everywhere, see you and hear you and live with you. Once I can’t do that anymore, I will long for you.”

Selma Lagerlöf

Lagerlöf was also the first woman to appear on a Swedish banknote, featuring on the 20-kronor note in 1991.

7. King James VI and I

King James VI of Scotland, who later became James I of England, is widely believed to have had multiple male lovers throughout his reign (1567–1625).

Best known for commissioning the King James Bible, he granted noble titles to his lovers, including Robert Carr (Earl of Somerset) and George Villiers, whom he elevated to Duke of Buckingham. Letters between James and Villiers express deep affection, with Villiers writing: “I naturally so love your person, and adore all your other parts, which are more than ever one man had.”

King James VI

Despite clear historical evidence, these relationships were often erased from public narratives.

8. King Richard I (Richard the Lionheart)

King Richard I of England (1157–1199) was rumoured to have had an intimate relationship with Philip II of France. His royal secretary, Roger Hovedon, wrote: “They ate every day at the same table and from the same dish, and at night their beds did not separate them.”

King Richard I

The closeness between the two kings reportedly astonished Richard’s father, Henry II, who questioned their “vehement love.” Despite marrying, Richard had no children and spent little time with his wife, further fuelling speculation about his sexuality.

9. Caroline Spurgeon

Caroline Spurgeon, the first female professor at the University of London, shared a life with civil servant and women’s hockey captain Lilian Clapham.

Caroline Spurgeon

Spurgeon designed Clapham’s gravestone and left a message commemorating their “happy life together.” When she passed away in 1935, she was buried beside Clapham in Alciston, East Sussex.

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