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Francesca & Ralph - follow on Tiktok: @francescaannisvideos

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I didn’t appreciate this couple when they were together from the mid 90s to early 2000s (although I wish I had). They may have been (ahem*) a bit controversial and indiscreet but boy, did they look good together (based on photos I’ve seen).

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Francesca & Ralph ❤️ (new upload In GettyImages)

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Francesca Annis during her “Macbeth” days

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Loveeee

Francesca Annis talks about her character in Cranford, Lady Ludlow.

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Adorable!!

Judi Dench and Francisca Annis (Absolute Hell) 1991

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One day, in front of a high end flat in London…

A handsome man in his early 30s surreptitiously looks around, hoping to avoid the prying eyes of the media…

Because of the dreary London weather, he dons a coat and goes for a morning walk…

His walk takes him to the local souvenir shop so he could purchase the morning paper…

As it turns out, the paparazzi is waiting for him on the pavement, so rather than meeting them head on, he avoids them by walking to the side and climbing over some walls…

There, he is met by his beautiful lover who is in her early 50s…

The two have breakfast at the local cafe. As they leave, the man is now carrying the woman’s coat…

The two walk holding hands around London, enjoying the fresh air. The woman has her eyes cast down, not able to look at the cameras while the man looks up, as if protecting his lover from prying eyes…

But they walk on, protective of each other and finding comfort in each other’s arms.

**This must have been a day in the life of Francesca Annis and Ralph Fiennes in the mid-to-late ‘90s when their affair caused shockwaves in the United Kingdom. (All the captions were made up by me)

**The pair met in 1995 when they performed Hamlet together (Ralph as the title character and Francesca as Gertrude, his mother). They fell in love and in the following year, they left their partners to be together. At the time, Ralph was married to his longtime sweetheart. Francesca was with her partner of 22 years and father to her three children. But the love and attraction between them must have been too strong to be ignored. Not only was the case of infidelity on both parties shocking, but the fact that Francesca was 18 years older than Ralph. At the time of performing Hamlet, she was 50 and he was 32.

**Francesca and Ralph remained together for 11 years. The media even said that “their relationship was one of the most solid in the entertainment industry.”

**Sadly in 2006, the pair split due to infidelity on his part.

**But while it lasted you can’t help but feel fascinated and envious at the same time. To drop everything and leave your daily life because the love, attraction and chemistry was too strong to deny. And the fact that the ‘other woman’ was older makes it that much hotter. Ah well, c’est la vie…

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Okay so...they have been separated for a long time...and how they got together is well, a bit scandalous (carpe diem!). But IMHO these two looked so good together and the 90s was definitely their decade.

*These photos were from the Oscars (1997), the Evening Standard Awards (1997), BAFTA (2000), and the Oscar and Lucinda premiere (1997).

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If you know, you know 💕

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Slideshow Reckless (1997) with the love triangle Robson Green, Francesca Annis and Michael Kitchen. Great series:)

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Ralph Fiennes, Francesca Annis and Joseph Fiennes at the Press Night of Epitaph for George Dillon (27 SEP 2005)

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Ralph Fiennes and Francesca Annis at the 69th Academy Awards (24 MAR 1997)

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Ralph Fiennes and Francesca Annis arriving at the 69th Academy Awards (24 MAR 1997)

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Best mini-series EVER.

Robson Green, Francesca Annis and Michael Kitchen in “Reckless”

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Ralph Fiennes and Francesca Annis as Hamlet and Gertrude in Hamlet (1995)

© Mark Thompson

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Prince and actress Francesca Annis, who I’m pretty sure is having a religious experience here.

Under the Cherry Moon, 1986