Ralph and the singer half his lover's age

It was said to be one of the most stable relationships in showbusiness.

Yesterday, however, the 11-year love affair between Ralph Fiennes and Francesca Annis was in crisis after claims that the 43-year-old actor has been having a fling with a woman half Miss Annis's age.

Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan, 31, said that for the last two years she has been having a passionate affair with The English Patient star.

She said the relationship began after Fiennes spotted her at a party at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

She claims the actor is smitten - despite his regular public protestations of love for Miss Annis, 62, the woman for whom he had left his wife of 12 years, actress Alex Kingston.

He quickly persuaded Miss Crisan to meet him in one of the hotel's suites where, having plied her with champagne, he then seduced her.

Over the following two years, Miss Crisan said, she met up with Fiennes more than 30 times - including in a 'bolt hole' he had in London's East End, away from the home he shared with Miss Annis in Hammersmith, West London.

Miss Crisan said the actor, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role as a concentration camp commander in Schindler's List, regarded Miss Annis - 19 years his senior - as a maternal figure.

And the young singer suspected that Fiennes was also seeing another woman during their affair.

'He was a cheat,' she told the Mail on Sunday. 'He used me to be there always for him, whether he needed someone to talk to or wanted a cuddle or to make love.

'As time went on I started to see more clearly, to realise that I didn't want him at all.

'Playing hot and cold with a woman gave something to his ego. Knowing that there was someone maybe crying for him, maybe suffering, made him feel better about himself.'

Yesterday Fiennes was in Dublin, where he is due to appear in a play. His spokesman refused to comment but it is understood that the actor will appear on stage tonight as scheduled for the preview performance.

Meanwhile, at the £1million semidetached house he shares with Miss Annis, the curtains were drawn and no one answered the door.