‘She’s had a string of not great relationships‘: What friends of Lily James are saying about her new man after ‘crying‘ over a hard-partying stuntman, failed ‘engagements‘ and THAT scandal with Dominic West

Vaping and laughing as she strolled down the muggy late-night streets of ,  was clearly in a haze of happiness.

The 37-year-old actress was with her new beau, the Sydney-born musician Alex Cameron, and he wrapped his arm around her as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

The new couple were joined by a friend as they visited Stella Bar and El Cid. For the occasion, the former star dressed down in jeans and black leather jacket, and was clutching a £4,000 mini handbag.

As the trio walked between venues on Thursday, Lily even stumbled on the pavement – so infatuated by what her new love interest was saying she didn’t appear to see where she was going.

Friends of the actress are ‘overjoyed’ that she has found a partner who makes her so happy, I can reveal, as she is now looking to finally settle down following a string of failed relationships.

As one source close to the star tells me: ‘It’s great to see. Everyone wants more than anything for Lily to be happy.

‘She’s had a string of not great relationships, and she just wants to settle down now and start a family.’

The Mamma Mia! star recently split from her stunt-double boyfriend Bobby Hanton, whose partying lifestyle had given rise to concern among Lily’s friends.

‘She really did like Bobby,’ one friend told me. ‘There were a host of reasons [for their split], one of them just being that there was a lot of going out, and Lily wants to slow down and start a quieter life and a family.’

Partying did indeed appear to be a large part of the couple’s relationship – they were pictured leaving London’s Alexandra Palace after watching a five-hour set by the techno DJ Solomun among other sightings.

As a stunt double for the likes of Daniel Craig, Ryan Reynolds and Chris Hemsworth – who has become a close friend – Hanton often talks about his fitness routines and how he maintains his muscular physique.

But in 2020, the actor admitted he decided to go sober for 12 months after drinking alcohol while on painkillers for recent surgery on his back.

He told the fitness magazine Centr that he had been a regular drinker before cutting back: ‘On average, I’d have a glass or two with dinner with my wife on Thursday or Friday, maybe Saturday night go out to dinner and have a few more drinks, and then on a Sunday, I’d have a couple of beers with a roast,’ he said.

‘So on average, let’s say seven to eight drinks a week.’

He claimed to have cut down to just one or two drinks per week and declared: ‘I’ve changed a lot of things for the better and I’m reaping the benefits.’

Less than two years after that interview, he divorced his wife Rachel Hunter and began a ten-month relationship with the Love Island star Maura Higgins, which ended in 2024.

He met Lily a year later and it was at the Red Lion pub in Fareham, Hampshire, that they were first pictured together as a couple. Lily was seen laughing with her new boyfriend’s arm around her as they enjoyed some beers.

A post on the pub’s Facebook page said: ‘Tonight we had a visit from Downton Abbey’s Lily James alongside Thor stuntman Bobby Hanton. They enjoyed a drink and a game of pool, plus gained a new miniature fan club with staff kids.’

Despite Lily’s friends’ fears around Hanton’s partying habits, they were pleased to see her happily in a relationship after she had been perennially unlucky in love.

Her longest relationship has been with actor Matt Smith, the youngest ever Doctor Who, who appeared to break her heart in 2019 when their five-year romance ended.

Four years into dating, in 2018, Lily appeared at the Baftas wearing a massive diamond ring on her left hand, but the engagement rumours it sparked were never confirmed.

A year later, she opened up about her relationship struggles with Smith, now 43, blaming their busy schedules and saying: ‘I haven’t really stopped, and I don’t think that’s a feasible way to work. For me, eventually, that’s not the lifestyle I want. 

'That’s not only with regard to my relationship with Matt but also with my friends and family. There’s so much you miss. That’s why I know I can’t keep working at this intensity. I finish a job; Matt starts one.’

After they had not been spotted together for four months, the couple emerged in 2019 for a tense pub trip to The Spaniards Inn in Hampstead, north London, but they had already split by that time.

An insider revealed that the ‘relationship had been under strain for some time and there were rows about their schedules, which meant long periods away from each other – and being close to other stars’.

In October 2020, just months after the split, she caused a scandal when she was spotted on a romantic trip to Rome, having her neck kissed by her married The Pursuit of Love co-star, Dominic West.

The former co-stars made headlines around the world when they were pictured passionately embracing, cuddling up together and sharing a ride on a scooter while sight-seeing.

The pair spent two nights in a suite at the five-star Hotel de la Ville with a panoramic view over the whole city and just two minutes walk from the Spanish Steps.