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Dominic West and wife insist 'marriage is strong' after Lily James affair rumours

Watch: Dominic West was spotted getting close to Lily James in Rome

Dominic West and his wife Catherine FitzGerald have made a show of union following claims the actor had been unfaithful with Lily James.

Pictures had emerged of The Affair star, 50, and Downton Abbey actress James, 31, looking very close while in Rome together at the weekend.

West and FitzGerald, 49, have posed together for pictures outside their home in Wiltshire holding hands and kissing as the actor told reporters: “I just want to say our marriage is strong and we are very much still together.”

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 07: Catherine Fitzgerald and Dominic West attend the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.  (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Dominic West and his wife Catherine FitzGerald have put on a united front. (Getty Images)

A note was also pinned to the gate for awaiting photographers which read: “Our marriage is strong and we are very much still together. Thank you.” and signed by both FitzGerald and West.

The couple met as students at Trinity College Dublin. They rekindled their romance several years later and have four children together – daughters Dora, 14, and Christabel, seven, and sons Senan, 12 and Francis, 11.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 30:  (L to R) Dominic West, Lily James and Laura Carmichael attend the Harper's Bazaar Women Of The Year Awards 2018, in partnership with Michael Kors and Mercedes-Benz, at Claridge's Hotel on October 30, 2018 in London, England.  (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Harper's Bazaar/Hearst UK)
Dominic West, Lily James and 'Downton Abbey' co-star Laura Carmichael at the Harper's Bazaar Women Of The Year Awards 2018. (Getty Images)

They married in 2010 and split their time between their homes in England and FitzGerald’s family home Glin Castle in Ireland.

The landscape gardener is an Anglo-Irish aristocrat whose father was the last Knight of Glin.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 02:  (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK TABLOID NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 48 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME. MANDATORY CREDIT PHOTO BY DAVE M. BENETT/GETTY IMAGES REQUIRED)   Dominic West (L) and Catherine Fitzgerald (R) arrive at the UK Premiere of 'Johnny English Reborn' at Empire Leicester Square on October 2, 2011 in London, England.  (Photo by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)
Dominic West and wife Catherine Fitzgerald in 2011. (Getty Images)

She was previously married to Viscount Lambton between 1995 and 2002.

West has a 22-year-old daughter Martha with ex-girlfriend Polly Astor, daughter of the politician Michael Astor.

James had been in an on-off relationship with 37-year-old Doctor Who star Matt Smith for the past five years. It was recently reported they had split for good after attempting to rekindle their relationship during lockdown.

West and James star together in the upcoming BBC adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s romance novel The Pursuit Of Love. Filming had begun in the spring but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 22:  Matt Smith and Lily James attend an event hosted by Lily James to celebrate the launch of My Burberry Black at Burberry's all day cafe Thomas's on August 22, 2016 in London, England.  (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images for Burberry)
Matt Smith and Lily James in 2016. (Getty Images)

The pair also starred on stage in Othello together at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in 2011.

Paparazzi pictures published by The Daily Mail showed West and James riding an electric scooter together through the streets of Rome.

Read more: Lily James 'keen' to do less period dramas

Photos of the pair seated outside a restaurant shows West stroking James’s hair and holding her shoulder as he leans in and apparently nestles his face in her neck.

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