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‘I can only be as good as I can be,’ he says. ‘I push myself hard, but not because I need to maintain
a Fox standard.’

He has inherited from his father more than a love of drama. They’re also both unashamed
sybarites. Edward once chose ‘Limes toilet water by Floris’ as his luxury on Desert Island Discs.
Freddie’s most prized wardrobe item is ‘a suit made for me at Davies & Son on Savile Row’ that he
bought himself after a job a few years ago. His eyes practically roll back speaking about it. ‘It’s Fox
Flannel with a big check in it, grey underneath… I feel fantastic when I wear it. I think I’d have
been a tailor in another life.’

He’s got Edward’s technophobia, too. ‘I’m a 21st-century him. I’m not on social media but I can
send emails and stream. Beyond that I don’t like it at all. I think it’s revolutionised the world, but
at what cost to your mental health and mystery?’

Fox’s friendship group is seemingly every young actor in Britain, but especially his old muckers
from Bullingdon Club satire The Riot Club. He had a pint with Josh O’Connor, The Crown’s Prince
Charles, recently. Max Irons, son of Jeremy, was a school friend. And Douglas Booth he sees all the
time.

Fox on the set of the drama series CREDIT: ITV
But that’s as far as he’ll go on personal relationships. It was once rumoured (incorrectly) that he
and Bonas were dating, and while promoting Cucumber in 2015 he set the tabloids ablaze with the
throwaway comment that ‘I’ve had girlfriends, but I wouldn’t wish to say “I am this or that”
because at some time in my life I might fall in love with a man…’ He does currently have a
girlfriend, he says. Is she an actor? ‘A-ha, good try. I’m not going to talk about that.’ I bet she is an
actor.

Away from acting and actors he can be found ‘swimming, taking photographs, walking in the
countryside, writing poems and screenplays that are just personal things for me’, and doing charity
work. He volunteers for Greenpeace, and feels climate guilt sharply.

‘Massively, massively. I fly as little as I possibly can, and when I have to for work I don’t feel good
about it. I’m scared. I think about it all the time and I feel guilty.’

Recently he saw Claire Foy and Matt Smith (a friend, of course) on stage in Lungs, which
concerned a couple freaking out about bringing a child into a warming world. ‘That’s my hot topic
at the moment,’ Fox says, nodding quickly. ‘I certainly think about it. I don’t know whether I’ll
have children – and maybe in 10 years I’ll think differently, that it’s wonderful to bring people into
the world who are aware and cognisant – but right now I think of it a lot.’