Queen divorcing? The Crown's Claire Foy splits from husband months after his life-saving surgery

Claire Foy has separated from her husband Stephen Campbell Moore just months after he underwent a life-saving brain operation.

The 33-year-old actress in Netflix's original series The Crown, who is playing Queen Elizabeth II in her early reign, said in a statement that the couple of seven years had been broken up for a while.

She claimed: "We have separated and have been for some time."

The statement said nothing about a divorce, though the use of language insinuated there was a definite end to her four-year marriage, adding: "We do however continue as great friends with the utmost respect for one another."

The couple met while working together on the film Season of the Witch in 2011, and have one daughter together, Ivy Rose, who was born in March 2015.

An insider also told The Sun that the couple are desperate to keep the split amicable for the sake of their child.

They revealed to the newspaper: "After seven years together this came as a real shock to many of their friends, but they're lovely people and are determined to keep everything civilized.

"Obviously it has been a very sad period for both of them, and for their wider families. But they are wonderful parents, intelligent and both successful in their own right," they added.

News of the separation comes a few months after Campbell Moore suffered a health scare. He had a serious operation to remove a brain tumour in July 2017, which was his second in five years.

He told the Telegraph shortly after surgery: "I have quite a thick skin in lots of ways. Even the first time I had the operation, it almost bounced off me. They told me that it was a lot more dangerous this time, that there were a lot more potential problems. And then suddenly I was like: 'Oh God, this is really killing me.'"

The London-born actor is best known for his roles in the Alan Bennett play The History Boys.

Foy, meanwhile, is enjoying global success and fame after portraying the young queen in her early reign, receiving critical acclaim for her performance and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress.