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HUGH LOVE SPLIT
DOWNTON Abbey star Hugh Bonneville has split from his wife of 25 years, The Sun on Sunday can reveal.
Lucinda “Lulu” Williams, 55, had been by the actor’s side on film sets throughout his career.
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Hugh, 59, found global fame playing the Earl of Grantham in the popular ITV period drama.
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the actor said: “I can confirm that Hugh Bonneville and Lulu Williams have separated.”
Hugh was seen smiling at a star-studded marriage ceremony eight days ago — without his wedding ring.
A source said: “It is clear that Lulu feels as if 20-odd years of marriage counts for nothing.”
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Hugh was a guest at the wedding of Downton Abbey co-star Michelle Dockery, 41, and Jasper Waller-Bridge — brother of Fleabag creator Phoebe — last Saturday.
But unlike other cast members, Hugh did not bring his partner.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Hugh confirmed the couple — who have been married for 25 years and share a family home in West Sussex — have separated.
A source said: “It’s a shame as locally they were known to be a very sociable couple.
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“Hugh has been away from home filming a lot this year.
“He has lost a bit of weight this summer, he was looking trim, tanned and relaxed.”
Just five years ago, the couple marked their 20th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows in Las Vegas’s Graceland chapel.
The pair used to regularly attend red carpet events and Lulu would be at Hugh’s side on film sets.
They were last publicly seen together in April at a gala for The Old Vic theatre, in London.
On May 7, Hugh — who has regularly rubbed shoulders with royals — was still wearing his gold wedding ring when he hosted King Charles’s Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle, watched by more than 12million BBC viewers.
He and Lulu met as teens, lost touch, then finally sealed their love in their 30s — with a bit of help from his mother Patricia.
Hugh has said: “Lulu was running a marquee company . . . my mother rang her to hire some chairs or something and said, ‘Do you remember Hugh?’ and that was how we reconnected.
“It did infuriate me that I had to give full credit to my mum for reintroducing us.”
He was also quick to praise Lulu in public as his “bedrock” and “anchor”.
The pair got married in November 1998 and he confessed afterwards: “I thought I would be a bachelor for years.”
Speaking in 2012, Lulu confessed she wasn’t fazed by Hugh’s fame.
She said: “I don’t take any notice. I don’t notice women fawning over him — although I know everybody talks about it.
“Don’t forget, we met as teenagers and have a lot of history. We’re not fazed by the glitz of the showbusiness world.
“We are just home-loving people and don’t make a habit of hanging out at celebrity parties.
“I don’t really have a job but my hobby is hanging out at car boot sales, buying trinkets and doing them up and reselling them.”
Hugh, who also stars in the Paddington movie franchise, is signed to appear in the third instalment Paddington in Peru, which officially went into production this year.
It has been stalled by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors’ strikes.
Next Sunday, Hugh is due to perform at the Battle of Britain Royal Gala at The Royal Air Force Club in West London.
The actor, who starred in BBC1 drama The Gold this year, has previously been joined on set by Lulu, including in 2013 when he filmed The Monuments Men in Cambridgeshire with George Clooney.
Last year he released a best- selling autobiography, Playing Under the Piano: From Downton to Darkest Peru, and revealed that Lulu had previously been married.
In 2009, Hugh admitted that Lulu played an integral role in motivating him to lose weight when she said he was as “fat as a pig”.
To get back in shape, he hired personal trainers who put him on a strict diet plan and a fitness regime which led to a weight loss of 16lb.
'Fat as a pig'
He said: “I’ve often been the guy who doesn’t get the girl.”
In 2016, Hugh dedicated a love song on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs to Lulu — Dream A Little Dream by Mama Cass.
In 2019, the actor was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex by the Royal Family.
Speaking about the appointment at the time, he said: “It’s nice because it’s in my county where I live and I do quite a lot of stuff like visiting schools and reading a lot of Paddington.
“It’s really the same thing, but just with a badge.
“I’m very honoured.”
Hugh, who has played Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, since Downton’s launch in 2010, previously revealed that the Royal Family are fans of the period drama.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, called in to see the cast at Ealing Studios as they finished the final series and Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, also paid them a visit.
Hugh has praised the key role Lulu has played in running their household and looking after their beloved son Felix, now 20, while he enjoyed TV and movie fame.
The award-winner said: “Lulu’s priority has been to be a bedrock for Felix and me and I’m completely indebted to her.”
The couple would walk their Tibetan terriers, Teddy and Sasha, on the South Downs and spend weekends entertaining friends with late-night karaoke and meals prepared by Lulu.
She would tease Hugh about being a “luvvie” — her favourite nickname for him.
During the pandemic, they volunteered as marshals at their local vaccine centre.
Hugh once told a newspaper: “I had girlfriends, but settling down was the last thing on my mind.
“Then you meet someone and think, ‘This is the person I want to be with’. We had a shared history.
“That helps when you’re in for the long haul.”
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Early role was as De Niro’s right leg
By Scarlet Howes
HUGH has enjoyed a brilliant career on stage and in film and TV.
He made his debut understudying Ralph Fiennes’ Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Open Air Theatre in London's Regent's Park.
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His first big-screen role came in 1994's Frankenstein - directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Robert De Niro.
Other film appearances include Notting Hill in 1999, and Iris in 2001, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
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He landed the role of the Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey in 2010, for which he won a Golden Globe in the US.
The acclaim also led to parts in The Monuments Men alongside George Clooney and in two Paddington movies.
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