The Crown star Claire Foy splits from husband Stephen Campbell Moore months after his life-saving brain operation

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The Crown star Claire Foy has announced her separation from husband Stephen Campbell Moore, months after he underwent crucial surgery to remove a brain tumour.

The actress, 33, best known for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix Royal drama, and her partner, 38, confirmed their four-year marriage is over in a joint statement released on Thursday evening.

The couple, who originally met while working on 2011 film Season Of The Witch, revealed they had parted ways long before the news was made public.

All over: The Crown star Claire Foy and husband Stephen Campbell Moore have announced their separation, months after he underwent crucial surgery to remove a brain tumour (the couple are pictured in April 2016)

‘We have separated and have been for some time,’ they said. 'We do however continue as great friends with the utmost respect for one another.'

A separate source claimed the couple are desperate to keep the split amicable for the sake of their daughter, two-year old Ivy Rose.  

'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,' the insider told The Sun. 

Previously: Foy was recently seen without her wedding ring as she made a glamorous appearance at the 68th annual Berlin Film Festival premiere of her latest movie, Unsane

 Surgery: The news comes just months after The History Boys star Campbell Moore had a life-saving operation to remove a brain tumour - his second in five-years in July 2017 (pictured in June 2013) 

'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.' 

MailOnline has contacted a representative for further comment. 

The news comes just months after The History Boys star Campbell Moore had a life-saving operation to remove a brain tumour - his second in five years - in July 2017. 

'I have quite a thick skin in lots of ways,' he told the Telegraph two months after surgery. ' 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."' 

Popular: Foy is best known for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the Netflix Royal drama The Crown 

Campbell-Moore originally discovered he had a walnut-sized tumour his pituitary gland in 2012 after an overwhelming bout of anxiety led to the actor suffering stage fright while preparing for an Arthur Miller play, prompting doctors to suggest he go for a brain scan. 

His second op took place while Foy was filming the second series of The Crown with co-star and screen husband Matt Smith, who plays Prince Philip. 

'You realize you’re not the most important person in that process, and everybody who loves you goes through far worse,' he told The Sun in January.

'There are certain things that you make sure you’ve done before you go into surgery. You write a letter. But it’s all very much on the off chance that something did go wrong, because every part of you is saying that nothing will. Waking up and being told the operation had gone well was understandably a huge relief.' 

Amicable: The couple, who originally met while working on 2011 film Season Of The Witch, revealed they parted ways long before the news was made public (pictured in May 2016)

Claire met her husband - best known for his part in The History Boys - on the set of Season of the Witch in 2011, a film which starred Ron Perlman and Nicolas Cage.

Foy was last seen at the premiere of her latest film Unsane on Wednesday evening, during the 68th annual Berlin Film Festival.

She was not wearing her wedding ring and was accompanied only by co-stars when she walked the red carpet.

Despite her marital woes, the actress was in remarkably high spirits as she walked with Joshua Leonard and the film's celebrated director Steven Soderbergh.

Shot largely on an iPhone, her latest film represents a departure from the slick production she's used to on The Crown, but Foy recently admitted she's at something of a personal and professional crossroads.

Reflecting on the future, she told Town & Country:  'At this juncture I think it will find me. I think it will be a good time to sit down and take stock of what I want to do, which is possibly not acting, or where I want to go—all of those things you don’t really have time to think about when you’re working. 

'I’ll probably have to consider all of that at some point, but not quite yet.' 

The shock revelation about her marriage breakdown sheds light on secret turmoil she experienced while filming her hit Netflix series, which began in 2016.

She was coming to the end of the first series when her husband's tumour was first diagnosed, and the actress spent much of the second series concerned about his wellfare after his operation in the summer of 2017.

Sense of responsibility: The split sheds light on Claire's secret turmoil on the set of The Crown (pictured)

She also herself filming as Queen Elizabeth for the show's first series just four months after giving birth to their daughter, meaning she was juggling breast-feeding her daughter while on set.

Her intentions to do so proved to be problematic, she later told Vogue, as she recalled a hard-hitting moment on her first day that saw her forced to go without feeding her baby. 

'I found myself halfway up a Scottish mountain, with engorged boobs and no way of getting down to feed my baby,' she remembered. 'I had to ring my husband and tell him to give her formula. 

'It was like someone had stamped on my heart and, as I sat in a Land Rover trying to get a broken breast pump to work, I felt I’d made the worst mistake of my life.'

She went on to say: 'Because I was so tired, I just played each moment as each moment. I didn’t over-think it, and I genuinely didn’t have the energy to invent any emotions that weren’t there. It was just one steady bulldozer of emotion pushing me all the way through.'

In their marriage, Claire told Marie Claire in 2016 that she found it hard not to 'talk shop' about acting when she went home to Stephen in the evenings.

‘It would be weird to avoid that,' she confessed. 'Because then you’d come home seething or really happy and go, “No, we can’t talk about it.” 

'I was incredibly boring doing [The Crown] because I’d learn so many amazing things about the royal family and go, “Did you know that in 1957…?'

Yet behind closed doors, it seems Claire had fears she would become a widow during filming, as Stephen was in the process of writing a will, and a letter to his family.

The actor told Daily Telegraph: 'There are certain things that you make sure you've done before you go into surgery. You write a letter. 

'But it's all very much on the off-chance that something did go wrong, because every part of you is saying that nothing will. 

'Waking up and being told the operation had gone well was understandably a huge relief.'

Claire will not return to The Crown for Series 3, as it was announced in late 2017 that she will be replaced by Olivia Colman, portraying a much older Elizabeth for the next two seasons.

The actress gave advice to her successor, saying it was, 'important to take time to sleep.'

She said: 'Make sure you take care of yourself and don’t get too tired.

'When you are doing a long-run show like that and it’s nine months per season, it’s hard work, long hours, long weeks, long months.

Meeting of minds: Claire met her husband on the set of Season of the Witch in 2011 (pictured here at the afterparty for the film)