Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville has been enjoying downtime with his new partner, Heidi Kadlecova, three years after separating from his wife Lulu Williams. The actor was spotted at the opening day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2026 with Kadlecova, a vegan influencer he met through colleagues while filming Go Away!.
Marriage Breakup
Bonneville's marriage to Lulu Williams lasted over 20 years. The couple met as teenagers and were later reunited through matchmaking by the actor's mother. According to the Mirror, Bonneville said: "Lulu was running a marquee company... my mother rang her to hire some chairs or something and said, 'Do you remember Hugh?' and that was how we reconnected. It did infuriate me that I had to give full credit to my mum for reintroducing us." They lived in West Sussex and raised their son Felix before separating in 2023.
New Relationship
After the split, Bonneville was briefly linked to Canadian actress Claire Rankin, but neither confirmed the rumours. He then began dating Heidi Kadlecova, and their romance developed rapidly. They made their first public appearance together at the premiere of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale in September 2025. In July 2026, Kadlecova posted a photo on Instagram of the pair at Wimbledon, captioned: "What an incredible opening day @wimbledon! Thank you @rolex for hosting us... Brilliant matches!"
Family Loss
Bonneville experienced the deaths of three family members in a short period: his mother Patricia in 2014 aged 85, his brother Nigel in 2016, and his father John in 2020 aged 93 after a long battle with dementia. He told Saga Magazine: "The admin of the funeral and everything numbed the grief for a while. I didn't read any of the letters of commiseration or condolence we received until a year later, when I took them all with me to India. I was doing a film but had one weekend off, so I went on my own to this incredibly peaceful, quiet hotel in the middle of nowhere and read all the letters and absolutely let it all out. All the emotion. That was a very cathartic thing."
Downton Abbey: A New Era airs on ITV1 on Sunday, July 12 at 6.30pm.
