Saoirse Ronan realises childhood dream as Scotland becomes ‘second home’ after secret wedding in Edinburgh

Ronan, speaking on the red carpet of the Light House cinema for a special screening of her new film The Outrun, said she fell in love with the country during the 2018 filming of Mary Queen of Scots, coincidentally where she met her future husband on set.

The two were married on July 20 this year in a secret ceremony. The Sunday Independent revealed they had tied the knot in Edinburgh, a place that Ronan said has a particularly special place in her heart.

“When I was a kid, I had done a couple of days in Edinburgh on a film called Death Defying Acts, and I remember turning to my mam – we were doing a night shoot, everyone was knackered – and I thought ‘I’m going to move here one day,’” said Ronan last night.

“It’s just so nice now to kind of call it a second home. Ever since I made Mary Queen of Scots, I’ve always loved Scotland.”

In the 2018 film, Ronan took on the role of Mary, while Lowden was cast as Darnley, Mary’s second husband.

Wedding rumours began to fly a year ago, when the couple refused to deny that Lowden had proposed during a hiking holiday in Scotland.

However, they are very private about their personal lives, hence the secrecy around their wedding, which was only made public more than a week after they tied the knot.

In The Outrun, the natural wildlife of Scotland’s Orkney Islands is especially prominent.

Initially, Ronan’s character, Rona, is unmoved by the landscape, and the film reflects her feelings.

“When we move back to Orkney, everything’s very stark, everything looks quite grim. It’s not necessarily a place you would want to go and visit,” said Ronan.

“And then slowly and gradually over time, as she starts to heal, the scope of it starts to open up. It becomes more epic, it becomes more widescreen and we feel like we’ve actually got space – we start to see how beautiful this landscape is.”

Ronan said the chaotic nature of the Scottish landscape suited the character of Rona, who returns home to the island from London as an alcoholic struggling to recover from addiction.

“There is this sort of chaos and wildness to the Scottish land and the weather, and the weather on the Orkneys in particular, which sort of serves as like a mirror to her emotional state.”

The Outrun will be in cinemas from next Friday, September 27.