Prince William will no longer be attending the BAFTA ceremony this weekend, post the death of his grandfather Prince Philip. The death of the royal family member had been mourned worldwide.
"In light of The Duke of Edinburgh's passing, The Duke of Cambridge will no longer be part of BAFTA programming this weekend. Our thoughts are with the Royal Family, to whom we offer our deepest sympathy at this time," BAFTA said in a statement to Variety.
Prince William is the president of the BAFTA and every year he attends the ceremony with the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton. Each year there is a mandatory photoshoot of the couple seated entering the red carpet and seated in the front seat, post which, social media outlets go abuzz with photos and names of the designers, hairstylists who styled the two members of the Royal family.
He was also expected to deliver a speech on Sunday's main event. This would have been a live show with a virtual link. No reports have confirmed if Prince William is also avoiding the event to maintain COVID 19 protocols. It's quite likely that one may just consider it inappropriate to find Prince William attending a function a few days after his grandfather's death, who had also been the first president of BAFTA in 1959.
The BAFTA Film Awards will air as scheduled on both weekend nights on the BBC, as well as on social media from their official handles. The BAFTA may also hold a special segment to honour Prince Philips.
Why BAFTA was important to India in 2021
The 2021 BAFTA nominations had been particularly important to the Indian audience since newbie actor, Adarsh Gourav managed to make it to the Best Actor nomination for his performance in The White Tiger. His name had been announced alongside Hollywood icons such as Anthony Hopkins, late actor Chadwick Boseman.
The White Tiger had marked Adarsh Gourav's first lead role in the Hindi film industry. He had shared the screen space alongside A-listers from the Hindi film industry such as Rajkummar Rao, and Priyanka Chopra. Prior to his first debut project, Adarsh Gourav had a short but significant role in Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan.
