Prince William and Kate Middleton Are Skipping the BAFTAs for This Unsurprising Reason
Sorry, royal fans. There will be no glamorous red-carpet appearance from Prince William and Kate Middleton at the 2025 BAFTA Awards. The Prince and Princess of Wales are skipping the BAFTAs. Why? Their three children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.
William and Kate are missing the BAFTAs due to George, Charlotte, and Louis’ school break
Family time wins out over the star-studded ceremony for William and Kate, according to Kate Mansey, Assistant Editor and Royal Editor at the U.K.’s The Times. In an X post on Feb. 10, 2025, Mansey shared that neither the future king nor future queen will attend the ceremony on Feb. 16, 2025.
“NEW: The Prince of Wales will not attend the @BAFTA awards ceremony on Sunday but will instead focus his efforts on highlighting the next generation of film talent,” Mansey said in her post, adding “This year it falls on the first weekend of the half-term school holidays.”
George, Charlotte, and Louis are students at Lambrook School near the Wales family home of Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, England. As for what the royal family of five will do with the time off, that’s unclear. They could go skiing in the Alps like they did at the start of the year. Or they might decide stay closer, perhaps spending time at Anmer Hall, their country home in Norfolk, England.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have received backlash online about skipping the BAFTAs
Some royal fans on social media are unhappy William and Kate won’t be at the BAFTAs in light of the future king’s position as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
“Why don’t @BAFTA appoint a president who actually attend[s] their ONCE A YEAR awards?” one posted to X. Another asked, “Does it annoy you that you have to miss your kiddo’s holidays and events when Wills gets to take off for every school break?” in a separate comment, adding “I’d lose my mind…”
Others online supported William and Kate’s decision to skip the BAFTAs. One pointed out William’s visit to the London Screen Academy on Feb. 12, 2025. Plus, “This is the first year in a LONG time that William hasn’t attended.”
Last year, William attended the BAFTAs alone while Kate recovered from abdominal surgery ahead of her cancer diagnosis announcement. 2023 marked the pair’s most recent BAFTAs appearance together when William and Kate engaged in some memorable PDA.
Skipping events because of their kids’ schedules isn’t unusual for the royals
Skipping a big event, even an awards ceremony like the BAFTAs, isn’t anything new for William and Kate. They’re known to put their kids first. Sometimes that means they’re not present on certain occasions, opting instead to be with George, Charlotte, and Louis.
The Earthshot Prize Awards are one such example. In 2023, Kate didn’t join William in Singapore to walk the green carpet before the winners were announced in a star-studded ceremony.
The reason? George had exams at school and she wanted to be there for him. The move drew praise from royal expert Jennie Bond, who at the time said Kate had made the “right decision” to stay home.
“Official duties will come and go; children need their parents, and they grow up fast,” Bond said. “There will be more Earthshot events and prizes. But this year, George has his own big event going on—exams. It is entirely right that his mum [sic] should be there to help him through them.”
