Prince William has dropped out of tonight’s BAFTA Awards following the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip.
The news was confirmed by Variety, which carried a statement from the British film awards body.
“In light of The Duke of Edinburgh’s passing, The Duke of Cambridge will no longer be part of BAFTA programming this weekend,” said BAFTA in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the Royal Family, to whom we offer our deepest sympathy at this time.”
As President of BAFTA, Prince William is usually in attendance at the awards night, accompanied by his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. The British royal was scheduled to give a speech at Sunday’s awards through a live link. However, following the death of his grandfather who was also a president of the organization in 1959, the family thought it was inappropriate to attend.
It is being speculated that the BAFTA Film Awards will pay tribute to Prince Philip in some capacity tonight.
The royal funeral will be a private family affair on April 17, which will be held at St George’s Chapel, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, with Prince Harry flying in from the US to attend. His wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will not be in attendance due to her pregnancy. The couple have been trying to heal a rift between them and the royals following their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.
