'She feels inferior... like she has been missing out': As husband James Righton is spotted without his wedding ring, why at 41, life is about to look very different for Keira Knightly

For someone as professionally accomplished as Keira Knightley, it seems unfathomable that she would feel uncomfortable attending a dinner party with friends.

With films such as Pirates Of The Caribbean and Love Actually under her belt, as well as two Oscar nominations, you’d think she would be holding court at such sophisticated events.

But Keira, who turned 41 in March, is said to dread them because, say friends, she feels she is academically beneath her peers – for, unlike most in her circles, she doesn’t have a degree.

So, 25 years after she left Teddington School, a co-ed comp, at the age of 16 to star in Bend It Like Beckham, the mother of two is planning to ‘do an Emma Watson’ and go off to university to study English Literature.

One source said: ‘Keira left school when she was a teenager, so while her movie career blew up in a way she could not have imagined, it meant that she didn’t get to fulfil herself academically.

‘She feels inferior to her friends, many of whom went to university and got great degrees. She doesn’t have that accolade, it’s the one piece of success that she can’t say she has, so she very much plans to do something about it.’

Bend It Like Beckham launched Keira as one of Britain’s brightest young stars. It was a dream come true for the actress, who had an agent at the age of six.

Shortly afterwards, she was hired by feel-good movie guru Richard Curtis to play Juliet in Love Actually. Next came Pirates Of The Caribbean, in which she starred alongside Johnny Depp.

Most teenagers stuck behind a classroom desk could only dream of such a fairy-tale trajectory, but while my source says Keira has ‘no regrets’, she realises that she ‘missed out’ on further education.

That said, school life had been tough for Keira. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of six, although by the time she was 11, with her parents’ support, she says her teachers ‘deemed me to have got over it sufficiently’.

Due to her difficulty reading, her school classified her as having ‘special educational needs’, which made her feel discouraged. But not any more. Keira’s academic ambitions will prompt speculation that she will follow Emma Watson to Oxford, where the Harry Potter star is said to be studying for a PhD after gaining a master’s degree in creative writing.

For some though, the timing may raise more questions about her life away from acting, as her 13-year marriage has come into the media glare. Last week, husband James Righton was spotted without his wedding ring while cycling near their home in North London.

James, a singer in the now defunct pop band Klaxons, appeared grim-faced as he was seen wearing a colourful tartan jacket and baseball cap that read ‘I don’t work here’.

Earlier this month, both he and Keira, who have two daughters, Edie, ten, and Delilah, six, were seen wearing their wedding rings.

And in a further twist, on the Companies House register, Keira’s name now reads ‘Keira Christina Knightley’, having previously been Righton.

The changes relate to her performing arts company KCK Boo Ltd, which had more than £11 million of assets at the time of its latest accounts. After speculation about the reason for the change, representatives for the actress said it was done to comply with new identity verification rules, which meant it had to align with her ID document name, not her married one.

Meanwhile, in December, Keira and James sold Les Cinq Puits, their vineyard near the slopes of Mont Ventoux in the Rhone Valley. She admitted it was ‘difficult’ to keep their passion project going.

The couple tend to keep their relationship private, though on their tenth wedding anniversary Keira joked that it was ‘a miracle to have made it this far’. Friends say that generally living out of the limelight, away from celebrity gossip websites, has helped.

But that may not last for long, especially as she is set to spend the summer in France alongside her ex-boyfriend, Irish actor Jamie Dornan. The pair will shoot their new movie, The Worst, a waspish satire on high society.

However, despite the whispers off stage, I can reveal that – for now at least – all is well at Chez Knightley/Righton. Despite the speculation about problems in their marriage, both were at their North London home last week along with their daughters.

‘Keira has been out and about doing bits of work and all seems to be fine,’ says a source. ‘James has been seen without his ring before, apparently it’s no big deal, but let’s see.

‘There are some signs that have prompted speculation but all is fine. They live a quiet life in as normal a way as possible.’

Keira – daughter of actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman MacDonald – raised eyebrows when she married James in 2013, two years after they met at a mutual friend’s dinner party in London.

At the time, her reputation as the archetypal English rose has been cemented – helped by her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in 2005’s Pride And Prejudice.

James, meanwhile, was scruffy in comparison – the new rave singer and keyboardist more at home in grubby gig venues than stately ballrooms. Nor was he much of a foodie.

In an interview with the Waitrose podcast Dish in December, discussing the early stages of their relationship, Keira said: ‘He just couldn’t cook, all he ate was cheese on toast. He wouldn’t even go out for dinner. He was bizarre.’

They married at the Les Cinq Puits vineyard in a low-key ceremony, with the bride wearing a Chanel dress and matching jacket.

While James was embraced by Keira’s family, he lacked the A-list status of her other exes – Rupert Friend, included. She had dated her Pride And Prejudice co-star for six years between 2005 and 2011. Before Friend, there was the two-year relationship with Dornan, though well before he hit the big time with 50 Shades Of Grey.

James’ Klaxons days might be behind him, but he is still a well-regarded figure in the music industry, composing scores for films and television dramas. He has also been working on the ABBA Voyage show in London’s Docklands.

‘People might think that James is a scruffy rock band member but in fact he is a talented guy who Keira is very proud of,’ says a source. ‘He isn’t actually who you think he is. James just does life under the radar – very, very quietly.’

The perfect partner for a budding academic who is about to bury herself in books.