Crown Star Claire Foy Enjoys Double Date with Long-Term Boyfriend

The Crown star Claire Foy has long been vocal about sexual equality and the gender pay gap.

So when she went for dinner with her long-term boyfriend, of course they split the bill between them.

The actress has been dating singer-songwriter Charlie Cunningham for two years, and last week they were seen enjoying a casual dinner together outside a fishmonger’s and acclaimed seafood bar in Highgate, North London.

The loved-up pair, both 41, looked happy to be reunited, as Cunningham has just finished the first leg of his North American tour, and were seen holding hands and kissing during the meal.

And when the time came to pay, both got out their bank cards and went Dutch on the bill – which included two glasses of rosé – before taking a romantic sunset stroll across nearby Hampstead Heath. Both were casually dressed in T-shirts, with Claire carrying a butter yellow bag.

The actress hit the headlines in 2018 when she revealed she was being paid less than her co-star, Matt Smith, on The Crown – even though she was playing the young Queen Elizabeth II, around whom the whole Netflix drama was based.

She later received an apology and an undisclosed amount – reported to be up to £200,000 – in back pay. ‘I’d been working on that show for two years,’ she later said. ‘I loved everybody on it. And then I realised, there’s been a big, fat, dirty secret that nobody’s ever talked about.’

Foy was paid a reported £29,000 per episode for the first two series of the hit drama, while Smith’s higher pay for playing the Duke of Edinburgh has never been revealed.  Producers justified the disparity as he was then the better-known actor because of his starring role in Doctor Who.

Claire Foy (left) has been dating singer-songwriter Charlie Cunningham for two years

Last week, they were seen enjoying a casual dinner together in North London

Their location of choice was an acclaimed seafood bar and fishmongers in Highgate

The loved-up pair, both 41, looked happy to be reunited, as Cunningham has just finished the first leg of his North American tour

The couple, who have been together for two years, were seen holding hands and kissing during the meal

The couple’s careers mean that they are often apart with Cunningham is playing several dates across Europe and Canada over the next few months

Foy is currently filming H Is For Hawk, a biographical drama, alongside Brendan Gleeson

She is also set to appear in the black comedy film Savage House alongside Richard E. Grant

When the time came to pay, both got out their bank cards and went Dutch on the bill

Cunningham was spotted offering up his card after they finished the meal

The actress hit the headlines in 2018 when she revealed she was being paid less than her co-star, Matt Smith, on The Crown

She has long been vocal about sexual equality and the gender pay gap. So when she went for dinner with her long-term boyfriend, of course they split the bill between them

Foy later received an apology and an undisclosed amount – reported to be up to £200,000 – in back pay

The couple’s seemed to enjoy their meal which included two glasses of rosé

Much to the relief of her fans, Foy and Cunningham were first spotted together in July 2023

It is her first public relationship since her 2018 break-up with The History Boys actor Stephen Campbell Moore, the father of her daughter Ivy Rose

Foy is set to appear in an all-star adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree

After splitting the bill, the loved-up couple took a romantic sunset stroll across nearby Hampstead Heath

Both were casually dressed in T-shirts, with Foy carrying a butter yellow bag

Smith defended his co-star’s bid for parity, saying at the time: ‘Claire is one of my best friends and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all.’

Foy and Cunningham were first spotted together in July 2023.  It is her first public relationship since her 2018 break-up with The History Boys actor Stephen Campbell Moore, the father of her daughter Ivy Rose.

The couple’s careers mean that they are often apart. London-born Cunningham is playing several dates across Europe and Canada over the next few months, while Foy is currently filming H Is For Hawk, a biographical drama, alongside Brendan Gleeson.

She is also set to appear in an all-star adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree and the black comedy film Savage House alongside Richard E. Grant.