Pillow talk in Provence for Keira and her pop star
ON FILM she may have been a swashbuckling heroine of the high seas. But when it comes to her rock star lover, Keira Knightley has been swept away on a wave of romance.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean star was spotted out in a French antiques market last week with her fiance James Righton.
And the pair were, bizarrely, spotted buying several oldfashioned life-belts.
They also snapped up a pair of giant pillows – the perfect place to hide for a quick kiss.
The couple, who are holidaying in the medieval French town of L’Isle sur la Sorgue, could barely carry their mountain of purchases. Fortunately, Miss Knightley’s mother, the screenwriter Sharman Macdonald, was on hand to help.
The actress, 27, has been dating Righton, a keyboard player with London-based band The Klaxons, since February last year and has been engaged to him since May. They were introduced by a mutual friend, the model and presenter Alexa Chung.
L’Isle sur la Sorgue boasts one of the busiest antiques markets in France, with up to 1,000 stalls during its annual August fair. And among the hustle and bustle, fellow shoppers seemed oblivious as the lovestruck stars shared a kiss in their midst, and later enjoyed another away from the crowds in a nearby car park. Miss Knightley, who wore a simple floral pattern dress, is fiercely protective of her private life and has so far not been photographed with Righton, 28, on the red carpet. She previously dated her Pride And Prejudice co-star Rupert Friend. But to the surprise of many the couple split in January last year after five years.
Her father, the actor Will Knightley, said the split hadn’t been easy on either party and insisted ‘it wasn’t a decision either of them took lightly’.
She also dated Jamie Dornan, an Irish model and actor, for two years before they split in December 2005.
The Oscar-nominated actress, whose big-screen credits include Atonement, The Duchess and Love Actually, will next be seen in the title role of Tolstoy’s romantic classic Anna Karenina, one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year. The adaptation, which opens next month, is directed by Joe Wright, who has worked with Miss Knightley twice before, on Atonement in 2007 and two years earlier on Pride And Prejudice.
It co-stars Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matthew Macfadyen and Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery.
The Klaxons, meanwhile, are working on their third album, which will be their first since the acclaimed Surfing The Void, released in 2010.