Kate Middleton And Prince William Will Attend The BAFTAs

prince william kate middleton baftas

by Katie Rosseinsky |
Published on

Kensington Palace have confirmed that Kate Middleton and Prince William will attend the BAFTAs at the Royal Albert Hall next month, marking the first time that the Duchess has attended the annual event.

A tweet from the @KensingtonRoyal official Twitter account revealed that 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend the @BAFTA Film Awards ceremony on the 12th February' in a message posted this afternoon.

The news comes several days after it was alleged by The Sun that BAFTA bosses didn't want the Duchess of Cambridge to attend the awards ceremony, for fear she would 'distract' attention from Hollywood stars like Emma Stone, Natalie Portman and Ryan Gosling.

A so-called 'insider' told the paper that Prince William 'faced criticism from the film industry for missing the BAFTAs the last two years, despite being [the] President.'

'As a result of that feedback, he made it clear he wants to go this year and even bring Kate [...] But then it was expressed by senior staff within BAFTA that Kate's attendance will totally distract from all the film stars there,' the source continued.

kate middleton spectre
Kate Middleton attends the premiere of Spectre ©Getty Images

Naturally, BAFTA were quick to release a statement to the contrary, describing the rumours as 'completely untrue' and affirming that they 'would be delighted to welcome Their Royal Highnesses any year that they are able to attend.'

William has twice attended the BAFTAs, though his wife Kate has never previously accompanied him.

Of course, the news of the Duchess's BAFTA debut gives rise to one important question: what will she wear on the red carpet?

For previous high profile film events such as the premiere of Bond film Spectre and Steven Spielberg's War Horse, the Duchess has chosen evening gowns by her go-to designers Jenny Packham and Temperley. When attending the A Streetcat Named Bob premiere last year, she wore a £320 cut-out dress in white by label of the moment Self Portrait (which had previously been worn by Paris Hilton).

Let the style speculation commence...

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