Emma Thompson left new home in Venice to self-isolate at 'mum's house in Scotland'
Dame Emma Thompson finally sealed her departure from “misery-laden” Britain in the last week of February, shortly after Brexit. During a ceremony on February 28, the Hollywood actress and her husband Greg Wise were declared citizens of Venice, and residents of Italy.
After the documents were signed, Italian officials presented the famous pair with a Lion of St Mark statuette, a symbol of the ancient city. It was clear that Dame Emma was here to stay.
“They wanted to be resident citizens to come and live in Venice,” said deputy mayor Simone Venturini afterwards.
“They bought in the historic centre, not a second home. We are truly happy and proud to have Emma Thompson and Greg Wise as our fellow citizens, for what they represent and for the love they show for Venice.”
According to Dame Emma, her new status represented "the realisation of a dream she had cherished for years".
Within days, however, Dame Emma's plans were shattered. Italy had become the epicentre of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, and the disease was spreading uncontrollably. Soon her new home city was placed on total lockdown, and the canals fell silent.
Luckily for Dame Emma, she was already back in Britain.
Only four days after declaring herself a Venice citizen, it now emerges, the 61-year-old flew back to her isolated holiday home on the banks of Loch Eck in Argyll, Scotland, where she has stayed ever since.
At the time of her departure, eleven towns across Northern Italy had already been placed under strict quarantine rules.
Dame Emma herself confirmed that she was living back in Scotland while on the BBC promoting her film about the Extinction Rebellion protests which paralysed London, and in which she played a starring role.
The actress said she was speaking from her “mum’s place” in Scotland where she is staying with her daughter and husband. Her mother Phyllida Law, an actress who married The Magic Roundabout writer Eric Thompson, is also staying with the family.
The actress and her husband own a home in Hampstead but spend their summers at the croft near Dunoon (below), where they married in 2003.
She has holidayed there since childhood, when the cottage belonged to her parents.
On March 21, Scottish tourism secretary Fergus Ewing lambasted those travelling to remote holiday homes during the Covid-19 crisis, stating: “I am furious at the reckless and irresponsible behaviour of some people travelling to the Highland and Islands. This has to stop now.”
Sources close to Thompson said she re-entered the UK on March 3, and made her way to the family property before the lockdown began in Italy. The UK government officially banned travel to second homes on March 22.
During the Brexit campaign, the actress branded the UK “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island”, adding: “I feel European.”
But the Sense and Sensibility Oscar-winner has described the location of her holiday home near the town of Dunoon as “part of my DNA”.
"I've played on its banks, picnicked on its beaches, swum in its chilly, unsalted depths, cycled round it, drunk it, got drunk near it, kissed in boats on it, got married near it and never wearied of it,” she once said.
As well as the rapidly vacated property in Venice, Thompson also owns a family home in the West Hampstead area of London, as does her mother. Her new status as an Italian resident affords the same rights to work, study and healthcare as an Italian citizen.
Last year, the Love Actually actress was criticised for returning to the capital via a polluting trans-Atlantic flight in order to protest with Extinction Rebellion.
She later admitted that she "may well be hypocritical", but is now promoting a short film about the disruptive demonstrations.
Thompson said of the film, titled Extinction: “In a crisis, you have to convince people to take positive and immediate action.
“The Suffragettes taught us that. “You have to be active in your disobedience.”
