Hugh Bonneville, the star of Downton Abbey, makes a rare public appearance with his wife, Lulu, at the first night of Matilda in the West End.

Hugh Bonneville has been married to Lulu since 1998. Photo: Getty Images

Tim Walker. Edited by Richard Eden

7:28AM GMT 26 Nov 2011

Good to see Hugh Bonneville making a rare public appearance with his wife, Lulu. The couple, who married in 1998, attended the first night of Matilda.

The West End musical, which is staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, will have brought back happy memories for the actor, 48, who began his career at the RSC, where he starred in such productions as 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore.

Bonneville, who later appeared in Conspiracy of Silence, is looking forward to the third series of Downton Abbey. In the last, his character, the Earl of Grantham, was overcome by passion for a woman in his pay. Naughty boy.

The Telegraph