Catherine Fitzgerald won’t ‘take any crap’ over those pictures of husband Dominic West in Rome with Lily James, friends have told MailOnline.
The mother-of-four put on a public show of unity with the Wire actor for the media today as they stood in front of their Cotswolds home.
The 49-year-old Anglo-Irish aristocrat looked slightly uncomfortable as she clutched a tissue and a piece of paper that boasted: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together. Thank you.’
But one friend who saw the pictures told MailOnline Catherine was ‘devastated’ behind the brave face after seeing the pictures.
Dominic West and Catherine Fitzgerald met during their Trinity College days in Dublin where they briefly dated when they were students
The couple put on a public show of unity today outside their Cotswolds home today after West, 50, was pictured getting close to 31-year-old co-star Lily James on a getaway in Rome
Catherine was said to have been ‘devastated’ when she saw the pictures of West, her husband of ten years and father to her four young children with actress James over the weekend
‘She is privately fuming,’ they said. ‘There are some difficult conversations to be had, but those will take place behind closed doors.
‘For now she was happy to display a show of unity and will always put her family first.’
Another old acquaintance said: ‘I saw those pictures today. I don’t know what’s going on. Catherine is very direct. There’s no nonsense with her.
‘She’s always been kind and sweet but she doesn’t take crap. I think anyone who knows her would say that. She’s a very cool person. I just hope she’s ok.’
The scion of a landed Ango-Irish family dating back 800 years, Catherine hails from a tradition where scandals are swiftly dealt with and life moves on.
Her first marriage was to Ned Lambton, Earl of Durham, whose father Lord Lambton, was forced to resign as a junior defence minister in the 1970s after being caught smoking cannabis in bed with two prostitutes.
And Catherine’s own ancestral lineage, the so-called ‘Black Knights of Glin’, Co. Limerick, on the west coast of Ireland, also included some disreputable characters – one even installed his mistresses in lodges around the estate.
Catherine’s wedding to West took place at her ancestral home Glin Castle, Co. Limerick, on the west coast of Ireland with a breathtaking 400-acre estate on the banks of the River Shannon
Body language experts said Catherine today struck a denial pose and went in for a ‘contrived-looking’ kiss in echoes of ‘unfaithful politicians trying to save their careers’.
For a brief moment today, she lingered in the doorway, biting her lip and staring anxiously at the ground as he glanced back and appeared to say something to her.
She walked through the tiny front garden, without looking directly at the media gathered before her, clutching a tissue and a piece of paper which had been signed by them both and boasted: ‘Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together. Thank you.’
Catherine is the eldest daughter of Desmond Fitzgerald, the 29th Knight of Glin, and his wife with his wife Olda Fitzgerald (pictured)
After announcing that their marriage is ‘strong’, West moved towards his wife and gave her a prolonged, somewhat awkward kiss.
The actor appeared the dominant partner in the exchange, but friends insist that is not the case. ‘Catherine will make her feelings on the episode perfectly clear in private,’ added the friend.
She first met and fell in love with West at Trinity College, Dublin, where they were both students in the 1980s.
The slim, stunning blonde who lived in an ancestral castle in Limerick was quite a catch, even for Old Etonian West, born in Sheffield to Irish parents.
He described her as ‘beautiful, intelligent and spectacularly disdainful.’
As she had won a coveted scholarship, it entitled her to a room in Rubrics, the university’s oldest, grandest building, ‘which of course made her even more attractive,’ he told the Irish Independent in 2016.
But Catherine, 49, and West, 50, drifted apart after university, and she went on to marry Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham.
After her divorce in 2002, Catherine and West rekindled their earlier romance and had three children before marrying in 2010
The eldest of three daughters of Desmond Fitzgerald, the 29th and last so-called ‘Black Knight of the Glin’, Catherine was brought up at magnificent Glin Castle, Co. Limerick.
After Catherine’s father died in 2011, leaving the estate to her and her sisters and their mother, they initially decided to put it up for auction before turning it into an 18-room events venue
Her father, whose title dated back to feudal times was not formally addressed as ‘Sir’. Instead, he insisted on being addressed as ‘Knight’, though a few trusted friends were allowed to call him by his nickname ‘Knighty’.
Catherine’s wedding to West took place at Glin, which has a breath-taking 400-acre estate on the banks of the River Shannon.
On June 26 this year, the Glin Castle Instagram feed posted a special anniversary message for its owners, reading: ‘Happy wedding anniversary to Dominic and Catherine, who celebrated their marriage at Glin Castle 10 years ago today!’
After Catherine’s father died in 2011, leaving the house and grounds to her and her sisters Nesta and Honor and their mother, Olda, they initially decided to put it up for auction. But more recently, Dominic and Catherine decided to take on the daunting task of renovating and opening up the castle with its 18 opulent bedrooms as a venue with accommodation, to try and meet the £150,000-a-year running costs.
Catherine already had a successful career as an eminent landscape gardener and she has worked on historic Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland, as well as several projects in some of London’s private squares.
Catherine and West spend holidays at Glin Castle (pictured) where thery run the historic castle that’s been in her family as an events venue to cover the £150,000-a-year running costs
Catherine is a landscape gardener and has spent years tending to the gardens at Glin Castle
Glin itself has a colourful history. One of Catherine’s ancestors, nicknamed the ‘Knight of the Women’, installed his mistresses in each of the Gothic lodges at the Castle, and another, known as ‘Cracked Jack’, would even ride his horse up the sweeping staircase to bed.
West has made no secret of the challenge that running the castle as a family hotel posed for him and his wife.
In a recent interview, he joked: ‘We’re constantly in tears of ‘uuurgh, how can we do this!’… . My wife has had three breakdowns, I’ve had two.’
At Christmas 2018, pop superstar Taylor Swift hired the castle for £50,000 to spent a secret break with her British actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn – even sneaking out for a Guinness at the local pub.
Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull notoriously attended a wild party there in the Sixties — with Marianne reportedly leaving with a friend of Catherine’s father, Lord Rathmore.
Nowadays the Wests spend school holidays there and the rest of the time they live at their family home in Wiltshire.