BAFTAs
Prince William comes to the award ceremony alone
Prince William
© Chris Jackson/Getty Images
While Princess Kate continues to recover from surgery, Prince William will attend the BAFTAs alone.
Accordingly, the palace announced that the heir to the throne “will attend the EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, February 18.” The prince will “watch the awards ceremony before meeting the category winners and nominees of the EE Rising Awards”, according to People.
Prince William arrives without Princess Kate
Princess Kate, 42, will not accompany her husband this year. She is expected to recover from her abdominal surgery by Easter. Before the latest news, British media had assumed that William would also not attend the ceremony.
Prince William has been president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 2010 and is a regular guest at the annual awards ceremonies – usually accompanied by Princess Kate. William’s late grandfather, Prince Philip (1921-2021), had been the Academy’s first president.
This year’s awards ceremony will be hosted by actor David Tennant, 52. The eulogists include Cate Blanchett, 54, Idris Elba, 51, Bryce Dallas Howard, 42, Hugh Grant, 63, Dua Lipa, 28, and David Beckham, 48.
Prince William represents his father
After his wife’s operation and the news that his father, King Charles III, 75, had cancer, Prince William recently began making his first public appearances again. At a gala dinner hosted by London’s Air Ambulance Charity, he recently addressed the difficult last few weeks in a speech: “I would like to take this opportunity to also thank you for the kind messages of support for Catherine and my father, especially in the last few days. That means a lot to all of us.”