Ralph Fiennes' hidden heartbreak: Nomadic youth as eldest of 6 shaped his life - now single at 62, and back on stage with ex Francesca Annis, 80, who he cheated on during 'midlife crisis', it raises intriguing 'what ifs'

Daily Mail​

21-05-2025

Despite being one of the most revered actors in film and theatre, Ralph Fiennes is an intensely private figure who fiercely guards details of his private life.
Nonetheless, talk of the 62-year-old thespian's romantic relationships has, at times, eclipsed his breathtaking performances.
This week, both Fiennes's acting pursuits and his love life have collided as the Daily Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden reports he's set to reunite with his former partner Francesca Annis, now 80, on stage in a production of Small Hotel.
Fiennes's affair with Annis is one of several passionate romances that set tongues wagging among his fans - also including his relationship with fellow RADA student Alex Kingston, a tryst with a Romanian singer and several other rumoured romances.
But although he has enjoyed multiple romantic trysts, Fiennes, the eldest of six siblings, has never had children of his own, once famously quipping: 'I had kids when I was a kid.'
Born in Ipswich to farmer and photographer Mark Fiennes and writer Jennifer (Jini) Lash, Fiennes was raised between Suffolk and West Cork, Ireland.
He has previously spoken of how his childhood shaped him into the man he is today, recalling a home life 'charged with anxiety' when his parents fell into financial difficulty - and being 'in the front line' of such worries as the eldest sibling.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2011, he recalled moving to Ireland in 1973 where his father promised prosperity for the family through a property development venture - which ultimately failed due to his lack of experience in the field.
'My parents were very financially challenged. All of us children have the memory of being told that there was no money, we have to sell this, there's no presents for Christmas,' he said.
Fiennes's younger brother, fellow actor Joseph, has also previously opened up about their nomadic childhood, which saw him attend 14 schools.
He dismissed the notion that, as members of the Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family, he and his siblings had a privileged upbringing.
'It's a name that really robs you of the truth,' he told the Telegraph. 'Not just poverty but nothing handed to you.
'Every one of my brothers and sisters have done [what they've done] by virtue of love, sweat, passion and discipline. [My parents] were always penniless, always in debt, always having to move house.'
In the same interview, he hinted at the paternal role his eldest brother Ralph played in his life - particularly when he started out in his acting career.
'Ralph, I have to say, was just so helpful in both helping me prepare speeches for drama school or getting me a job at the National Theatre as a dresser,' he recalled.
Despite financial instability, Ralph sought comfort in literature and plays - and was introduced to Shakespeare's Hamlet by his mother at the age of eight.
'[My mother] gave me Olivier's recordings of the speeches. I think I was mesmerised by his voice as much as anything. I didn't understand all of it, but I would sit there listening with a copy of the play,' he recalled.
Fiennes also dodged questions about Jini's death, on December 20, 1993, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
The writer's death coincided with her son's big Hollywood break, when Schindler's List, in which he played a Nazi officer in charge of a concentration camp, opened in the box office and grossed $322.16 million worldwide, picking up a total of seven academy awards.
Avoiding discussion of his mother's death, he conceded it was 'extremely distressing in all the ways you can imagine'.
He also took issue with the insinuation that his decision not to have children may be considered 'selfish', arguing with his interviewer: 'I don't agree with that at all.'
Revisiting the subject 10 years on in 2021 on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Fiennes appeared better prepared to speak about his late mother.
He said: 'She died at the end of '93, so Schindler's List was filmed in the spring of '93 and my mum sadly died at the very end of December' 93.
'It was a funny time, I mean, not funny like hilarious, it was odd and emotional and full of grief. But there was Schindler's List getting such an extraordinary response and I was reeling from the loss of my mother at the time.
'It was bewildering because I didn't, I suppose… the movement and focus on the film's success and being asked to fly here to this event, and that, so probably not really having time.
'People say you need time to grieve, and I suppose I didn't. I mean, I found the time but then it was bewildering.'
Ralph Fiennes' casting in Small Hotel alongside Francesca Annis (in which she will play his mother) from October has set tongues wagging that the pair may rekindle the spark that first ignited when they starred together in Hamlet in 1995 (in which Annis played Hamlet's mother Gertrude).
Speaking about dating a man nearly two decades younger, Annis previously said: 'Of course I don't spend days agonising over the age difference. How can I? There is nothing I can do about it.
'Ralph and I have been together ten years now so, whatever happens, we have had a very good, different relationship and an interesting time.'
The passionate affair saw an end to Fiennes's marriage to Alex Kingston, whom he'd married in 1993 following a 10-year relationship.
Annis, who was 50 at the time, similarly disentangled herself from photographer Patrick Wiseman, who'd been the man in her life since 1974, and with whom, though they'd never married, she'd had three children.
But the new couple parted in 2006 after Cornelia Crisan, 31, a London-based Romanian singer, recounted how she and Fiennes had enjoyed a two-year affair.
It began, she said, after Fiennes spotted her at the Dorchester Hotel, in London's West End, where he treated her to champagne and seduced her.
Ralph met his first wife Alex Kingston at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1983 and dated for 10 years before tying the knot (pictured in 1995)
Speaking out in 2006, Crisan claimed she had met up with Fiennes some 30 times over the course of their two-year tryst - including in a 'bolt hole' he had in London's East End, away from the home he shared with Miss Annis in Hammersmith, West London.
And the young singer suspected that Fiennes was also seeing another woman during their affair.
Fiennes and Annis split the day after Crisan's claims came to light, with sources telling the Evening Standard: 'It has been a difficult time for the both of them, particularly as they have not even seen each other since the revelations broke.
'Seeing all their private details laid out in all the newspapers has made them both think about their future together...
'Things have not been good for quite a while. Francesca seems to have been different since she reached 60 and they both realised how big the age gap is between them. Ralph, meanwhile, has been having a mid-life crisis of his own.
'Having their relationship raked over has made him, in particular, decide that it is time to call it a day on the relationship. It is very sad.'
Following his split from Annis, Fiennes found himself in headlines for his off-screen antics once again after a Qantas flight attendant claimed she'd joined the 'mile-high club' with the thespian in 2007 in the business-class toilet on a flight from Darwin to Bombay.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Lisa Robertson said: 'I know some people will think it's disgusting. And I'm not proud of what I did - it was inappropriate behaviour.
'But I don't regret it. Ralph is gorgeous and the chemistry between us was amazing. What woman wouldn't want to make love with him? This sort of attraction happens to people all the time. It's just not usually with a Hollywood star at 35,000 feet.'
This alleged steamy chapter in Fiennes's chequered love life appeared to be a turning point for the esteemed actor - whose dalliances have been notably less public ever since.
However, he is heavily rumoured to have dated Lady Amanda Harlech, a muse of the late Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld for seven years from 2006 until 2013.
The daughter of a wealthy London solicitor, she married aristocrat Francis Ormsby-Gore in 1986 but they divorced after 12 years.
Although Lady Harlech, who studied English at Oxford, spent much of her time at the Ritz Hotel in Paris she also owned a large farmhouse in a remote part of Shropshire.
Her daughter Tallulah was said to have diplomatically stayed with friends when Ralph made his overnight visits to the family home during the summer.
A source told The Daily Mail at the time: 'Amanda is very private. Shropshire is her sanctuary. She obviously likes him very much to invite him for private visits at the house.'
While they did not announce a split, the pair have not been pictured together since 2013.
Other figures Fiennes is rumoured to have dated include punk rock veteran Patti Smith, with whom he was linked in 2018 when she shared a gushing tribute to her friend on his birthday.
'This is Ralph Fiennes. A poet's son and poetry is his manner,' she wrote alongside the seemingly old photo posted on Instagram.
She continued: 'And poetry permeates the parts he plays. Happy birthday Ralph Fiennes, a fine man in every way.'
During filming for Oscar-winning film Conclave in 2023, Fiennes was also spotted strolling through the streets of Rome with high society darling Amelia Richards, now 54.
Amelia had previously been in a relationship for more than a decade with James Lindsay, 61, the son of one of Queen Camilla's best pals.
A friend of the pair told The Daily Mail's Richard Eden at the time: 'James and Amelia have only just split up. He packed up her things at their Oxfordshire home last week.
'She started spending more time abroad. James is said to be devastated by the break-up.'
However just weeks after he was spotted with Richards, Fiennes stepped out with his old flame Annis in the same Italian city, where they stopped for photos at the tomb of Romantic poet John Keats.
The couple linked arms as they walked from their hotel to the Garden of Oranges, with breathtaking views over the city, including St Peter's Basilica.
A witness said: 'They looked very relaxed, came out of the hotel together and took a long walk before going for lunch. They were laughing and joking.'
As the former couple are set to reunite on stage in Small Hotel in the Autumn, Fiennes will play Larry, a washed up TV presenter experiencing a career and personal crisis, while Annis will once again take on the maternal role of Larry's mother.
And as the still-friendly former lovers slip back into on-stage roles that echo the dynamic in which they first fell in love, the spotlights on Fiennes and Annis will shine bright.