Who Is Dominic West's Wife? All About Catherine FitzGerald

Dominic West has been married to his wife Catherine FitzGerald since 2010

Dominic West may play Prince Charles in The Crown, but in real life, he is married to an aristocrat.

The Affair actor married his wife Catherine FitzGerald in June 2010, and the pair have welcomed four children together over the course of their relationship.

“I think I have a really good marriage, mainly because my wife is so cool and I adore her and we have all these kids,” he told British Vogue in 2015. “The mistake people might make, if I may be so bold, is expecting so much of a marriage and hoping that there can be perfection.”

However, their marriage was tested in 2020 when West was photographed looking cozy with his The Pursuit of Love costar Lily James in the streets of Rome, Italy. The day after the photos were published, West and FitzGerald presented a united front when they addressed reporters outside of their home in London.

In the years since, the couple have continued to support each other, with FitzGerald stepping out at the season 5 premiere of The Crown in 2022 alongside her husband.

So who is Dominic West’s wife? Here’s everything to know about Catherine FitzGerald and her relationship with the actor.

She is an Irish aristocrat

FitzGerald comes from noble ancestry. Her family is part of the FitzGerald dynasty and her father, Desmond FitzGerald, was the 29th Knight of Glin before his death in 2011. However, he was the last to hold the title as it is only passed down through the male line and he had three daughters.

Desmond was the heir to Glin Castle, nestled along the River Shannon, in Limerick, Ireland. Following his death, FitzGerald and her mom and sisters put the castle up for auction. However, none of the potential buyers were the right fit, and ultimately, they chose to take the house off the market.

“The house has its own spirit, which won’t let us out of its grasp,” FitzGerald told House and Garden.

“The story of this place is so romantic and so melancholy,” West added. “With the sale of the house, I realised I was asking Catherine to give up her soul.”

West and FitzGerald decided to keep the castle in the family and dedicated themselves to its restoration. Now, the couple spends half their time living in the home with their children. Glin Castle can also be rented out for weddings and weekend stays.

She is a landscape designer and gardener

FitzGerald has built a career as a landscaper and gardener, and did years of work on her own family’s home. West told British Vogue in 2015 that FitzGerald’s career was “essential” to their relationship and to her having her own identity, adding that “she would go mad pretty quickly otherwise.”

As of March 2022, FitzGerald was continuing her work on an eight-year restoration project reviving the gardens at Hillsborough Castle in Ireland, she told House and Garden.

“Growing up, my sisters and I roamed the place, making dens in the rhododendron bushes, climbing the Monterey pine and wading in the rushing, stony stream,” she said. “The garden got under my skin – and for years it’s filled my dreams.”

"It's a big public garden, so she's very busy doing that, and she loves it," West told British Vogue seven years prior, adding jokingly, "It's the only thing keeping her on the straight and narrow."

She and West met in college

FitzGerald and West fell in love while attending Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, but at the time their romance was short-lived.

"I fell in love with my wife when I was at university and I managed to persuade her to fall in love with me for about three months but then she ran away and married someone else," West told British Vogue. "But I've been in love with her since then and still am, even more so.”

FitzGerald elaborated on their love story in 2021, telling the Irish Independent about their “wonderful love affair.”

“We would look over Dublin, reading poetry to one another with the mountains in the distance,” she said. “We had all the time in the world to explore the pubs and back streets and walk the canal. But at the end of the summer, I left him. And he has not let me forget it! But I couldn't have settled down with him right then forever. That would not have been a good idea for either of us.”

Instead, FitzGerald and West broke up, and she married Edward Lambton, the 7th Earl of Durham in 1995 while West moved to the U.S. to film The Wire and welcomed a daughter with his ex-girlfriend.

In 2002, FitzGerald and Lambton split, and the same year, she and West reconciled.

"He was having a year out and came back to London to be with his daughter, and a mutual friend brought him to meet me. We were both, then, at the right time in our lives," the designer told the Irish Independent. "And it was lovely to have that shared history, from earlier days."

She married West at her family’s castle

In the following years, the pair welcomed three children and enjoyed a three-year engagement before tying the knot at Glin Castle on June 27, 2010. “I feel so excited, really happy, really thrilled. It’s a fairytale,” FitzGerald told the Irish Examiner at the time.

West reflected on the special day over a decade later while reminiscing on Glin Castle for House and Garden.

“The wedding was a real hoolie,” West told the outlet. “The whole village was involved, with Thomas Coolahan, the publican, postman and funeral director, running the bar with gusto.”

She and West have four children together

FitzGerald and West have welcomed four children together: Dora, Senan, Francis and Christabel.

The pair’s eldest son even starred alongside his father in season 5 of The Crown as a young Prince William — despite having no acting experience.

“Do you know how lucky you are? Bloody lucky!” West said he told his son as he headed into his first scene, as he recalled to Town & Country in 2022.

“What was great [was the] shortcut to a sort of tactile intimacy that you have with your kids that no one else has,” he added of playing father-son on screen.

While Senan didn't reprise his role in season 6 of the show, the whole family did come out to support the father-son duo at the season 5 premiere in November 2022.

She forgave West after he was spotted cozying up to Lily James

West and FitzGerald made headlines in 2020 when the Daily Mail obtained photos of West and James cuddled up while enjoying lunch in Rome, Italy. The two were seen riding a scooter together, and at one point, James nuzzled into West’s neck. He was not wearing his wedding ring.

"They worked together in the past but seem to have connected in a special way since they started filming in England over the summer," a source told PEOPLE at the time.

In response, the following day, West and FitzGerald addressed reporters outside their London home by kissing and posing for photos. They also handed reporters a note that read, “Our marriage is strong and we're very much still together. Thank you. Catherine and Dominic."

A little over six months after the cheating scandal, FitzGerald said that their marriage was still strong in an interview with the Irish Independent. Looking back on the situation in an April 2024 interview with The Times, West called it an "absurd situation."

“It was deeply stressful for my wife and my kids, but there were lighter moments. That was the best that came out of it, really," he said.

Still, he admitted that they "do joke about it sometimes."

“Whenever we went out together, the papers would always say we were ‘putting on a show of unity.’ Even if we’d just been rowing about parking the car or whatever, even if that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. “And so when we go out we do sort of say, ‘Shall we go and have a show of unity up in London?’ ”

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