She has the looks of a quintessential English rose and the poise and charm that comes with an expensive private education.
And yet until now Downton Abbey actress Lily James has had a succession of romantic disappointments.
Her longest relationship was with actor Matt Smith, the youngest ever Doctor Who, who appeared to break her heart in 2019 when their five-year romance ended.
Afterwards, she went on a safari holiday with a female friend and posted pointed remarks about ‘cheetahs’.
Then in October 2020, she was pictured nuzzling married actor Dominic West on a scooter in Rome. The two of them were in the eternal city to visit their agent, who had just had a baby.
West and his wife Catherine grimly insisted that their marriage was fine at a photocall the next day at the marital home in Wiltshire; Lily said nothing.
By 2021, Lily had settled down mostly in LA with ‘Mikey Shoes’, real name Michael Shuman, the bassist of the hard-living hard rock band Queens Of The Stone Age, four years her senior. That lasted from 2021 to 2023.
But has Disney’s Cinderella finally found her Prince Charming in the form of handsome, heavily tattooed and massively muscled stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton?
Until now Lily James has had a succession of romantic disappointments…
… but has she finally found her Prince Charming in the form of handsome, heavily tattooed and massively muscled stuntman Bobby Holland Hanton (here pictured with Chris Hemsworth)?
Bobby Hanton at the Leicester Square premiere of Crime 101… with Lily in the background
A double for some of Hollywood’s biggest names – from Daniel Craig to Ryan Reynolds – his most notable partnership is with Chris Hemsworth.
Bobby, 41, has been Hemsworth’s favoured body double and stuntman for the past ten years and they are pals off screen. Bobby refers to the Thor actor as his best friend: they attended Wimbledon together last year.
He and Lily, 36, most probably met each other on the set of Hemsworth’s forthcoming submarine action thriller Subversion, which was filmed on the Gold Coast of Australia from September last year.
Bobby and Lily were not pictured together during the filming, nor do they feature on each other’s social media. However, this attempt at discretion was blown after they popped up as a couple at the Red Lion pub in Fareham, Hampshire, last Friday night.
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.’
A picture showed Lily with Bobby’s arm around her and the pair holding hands and laughing.
By Thursday night, the relationship appeared to have gone official when he and Lily attended the London premiere of the film Crime 101, which stars Hemsworth.
Bobby was there, as ever, in his capacity as Hemsworth’s stunt double but, interestingly, Lily is not a cast member.
Yet both of them posted pictures from the event to Instagram and, while they didn’t tag each other, she can clearly be seen smiling and taking snaps of him.
As for their pub ‘date’ last week? While the location sounds very unstarry, given the pair’s A-list connections this is Bobby’s home patch – he was raised in nearby Portsmouth, where he was a promising gymnast before heading to Hollywood.
His proud father Tony Singleton, 70, told The Mail on Sunday last week: ‘I’m really proud of what he’s achieved. It’s all from his own hard work and determination and he deserves the success.’
He adds: ‘He was up last week with his new girlfriend, Lily James, or I think it’s his new girlfriend though I’m not absolutely sure if it’s official. I didn’t see him this time as he was really busy.
‘They went to the Red Lion and the Green Dragon in Portsmouth and looked like they had a good time.’
Asked if this might be the start of a long-term romance, Mr Singleton said: ‘Bobby is over 40 and he’s so good with kids it would be fabulous if things worked out that way. He absolutely adores kids. He’s great with them.’
Bobby Hanton as a stuntman in James Bond film The Quantum of Solace…
… and with his then girlfriend, EastEnders actress Lucy Benjamin
Lily also places huge stock on the importance of family. ‘I come from the most incredible family, so that means a lot to me. Eventually, sharing your life with a family is the most important thing,’ she has said.
And Bobby certainly has prior experience of showbiz relationships. While he has been married before, to someone out of the public eye, it can be revealed that he has dated both EastEnders star Lucy Benjamin, 14 years his senior, and Love Island temptress Maura Higgins, 35.
He was actually engaged to Lucy Benjamin when he was only 20 years old and she was at the height of her fame, having just split from actor Steve McFadden, who played Phil Mitchell.
Bobby Hanton and Ms Benjamin parted ways reportedly because he realised that he didn’t want to tie the knot after all.
In 2018 he did marry – to a woman called Rachel Hunter, who now works as an aesthetician in Wimbledon, south-west London.
During their time together he and Rachel would often go out for drinks with Chris Hemsworth and his wife Elsa.
Although they split after four years, it is clear from Bobby’s Instagram feed that he remains close to her daughter Tayla, from a previous relationship, even taking his stepdaughter to a red carpet premiere in 2023.
As for Maura Higgins, they were together for ten months until March 2024, around a year before Ms Higgins and married Danny Jones of the band McFly were caught drunkenly snogging after the Brit awards.
So who is Bobby Hanton and what does he have to offer Lily James? Born in 1984 to Jane and Tony, he attended Castle Primary School in Fareham before going on to Portchester High School.
Rather than focus on academic subjects, Bobby’s real passion was gymnastics and he began training at the age of four, nurtured by his parents. He joined the British Gymnastics Association and then made the national squad. But growing to 6ft 1in tall made it unlikely he would go all the way.
In an interview with a film magazine he said: ‘I gave up competing in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics when I was 17, then I started playing semi-pro football. Gymnastics was certainly my stepping stone.
‘I learned great physical awareness and how my body works, and it’s definitely put me in good stead for what I do now. I was studying Sport Science at college, and then I decided, after seeing an ad in the newspaper, to audition for a live acrobatic, high-diving stunt show at Legoland.
‘I auditioned, got the job, and I did a high season, three-month stint. I then auditioned for a Christmas pantomime as an acrobat, and I did shows all the time after that.’
Lily’s longest relationship was with actor Matt Smith, the youngest ever Doctor Who, who appeared to break her heart in 2019 when their five-year romance ended
Through friends who were also ex-gymnasts, he found out about the British Stunt Register, the industry’s professional association. To join their ranks he had to be qualified in six disciplines, which he duly started training for.
By the time his stunt career was beginning, he had started dating actress Lucy Benjamin. He and Ms Benjamin were seen attending various London events and it was reported in September 2004 that they were to marry – but instead they split up the following year.
His father Tony says: ‘It didn’t work out. I think Bobby wanted to concentrate on starting his career and felt his focus and plans would have inevitably changed if he’d married her.’
Instead, his big break beckoned. Tony recalls: ‘After working in Thorpe Park theme park for a while and also continuing his training in schools, Bobby’s boss asked him to meet a man in a pub with him for a chat.
‘That man turned out to be the stunt co-ordinator for the James Bond films.’
Bobby then became the stand-in for 007 himself, actor Daniel Craig, in the 2008 film Quantum Of Solace.
‘And the rest,’ says Tony, ‘is history.’
According to his family, Bobby also worked with Craig on the subsequent Bond instalments of Skyfall and Spectre.
His father said there was one particular stunt, where 007 has to jump between two balconies some distance apart, and the stuntman booked to carry out the move said he couldn’t do it without nets.
‘Bobby stepped forward and said: “I can do it.” and he completed the stunt.’
Mr Hanton has previously said: ‘An audition came about for someone who was around six feet tall with acrobatic skills to be James Bond’s stunt double in Quantum Of Solace. I was like, “Is this a joke?”, because it’s the pinnacle. It’s the job that every stunt performer wants to do.
‘I went through rigorous four or five stages of audition at Pinewood Studios with the stunt team and luckily, I got the job. I think it was supposed to be for a six-week period and it went on for six months.
‘I had a great insight and learning curve on the biggest and best stunt team, and I had to learn pretty quickly.
‘You get thrown in at the deep end, and there’s no room for error. It’s pretty full-on. I learnt so much, and that being my first job still stands out for me as one of those jobs that’s put me where I am today.’
After Bond, he found a rich seam of work just as superhero films took off. He became the stunt double for Ryan Reynolds in The Green Lantern, then doubled for Chris Evans in Captain America and pulled on the Batman suit to double for Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises.
What really changed his life though was being asked to double for Chris Hemsworth in the 2013’s Thor: The Dark World.
Bobby said: ‘Getting into shape for it was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do, especially since Chris is two inches taller than me and hugely muscular.
‘Every morning and night I’d be in the gym, and I had to eat eight meals a day.
‘For breakfast I’d have scrambled eggs with steak and spinach, then two hours later chicken breast and salad before a big lunch and dinner, as well as snacks throughout the day.
‘It was intense training alongside Chris, but he had a wicked sense of humour and was always cracking jokes, which helped keep stress levels down.
‘We got on so well he bought me a watch as a thank-you gift, and decided to include me in his contract as his stunt double for all future movies, which was a huge honour.’
It’s a commitment that requires him to workout six days a week, twice a day, in order to maintain the same arresting physical shape as the buff Australian star.
But Bobby clearly doesn’t resent it. He refers to Hemsworth as his best friend and they went to Wimbledon tennis together last year, and he also appeared in his Limitless documentary for the streamer Disney, in which Hemsworth explores how humans can achieve peak physical condition to live longer.
The lifestyle that Bobby’s stunt work has brought him is now sprinkled with glamour and celebrity. His social media is full of pictures of fabulous holidays in stunning hotels around the world.
It’s certainly impressive to his family back in Hampshire.
His aunt Pauline Hutton told the MoS that they are all stunned by his success and his wealth. ‘I think he earns more than what Chris Hemsworth does,’ she said.
That can’t – quite – be true but as his father Tony says, Bobby Hanton from Portsmouth really has done very well for himself.
‘I love seeing him when he’s home but he’s a busy man. I’m so glad he’s done so well. He makes us all so proud,’ he said.
And – for now at least – this macho man seems to fit the bill for Lily James, the English rose from Esher, Surrey.
Additional reporting Jaya Narain
