Prince William attended the BAFTAs on Sunday and made a royal mistake.
The prince, who is the president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, met Rising Star Award nominees Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Sophie Wilde and Mia McKenna-Bruce backstage, and a photo of the moment went viral for Edebiri’s shocked expression — causing everyone to wonder what was said to prompt it.
“Mia, hi,” said William in footage obtained by The Daily Mail this week. “Very nice to see you guys, honestly. The category was so strong, all of you. It’s like, who is gonna pull this off? It’s incredible. It’s very close between all of you.”
William shook each of the actors’ hands in the meeting at London’s Royal Albert Hall, but then turned his attention to McKenna-Bruce, who had just won the Rising Star Award for her turn as a sexual assault victim in “How To Have Sex,” to congratulate her.
“I haven’t yet watched your film,” he told her. “I think it looked like you had a lot of fun.”
There are famously certain customs to meeting noblemen like William, which the royal family explains on their website aren’t “obligatory codes.” McKenna-Bruce, who had proceeded with a handshake in favor of a curtsy, nonetheless cheekily replied to William’s remark.
“I recommend watching it,” she told the apparently unknowing prince.
The 26-year-old, who began her career on Britain’s “EastEnders” in 2008, has been particularly proud of her “How To Have Sex” role in recent interviews — which received an eight-minute standing ovation at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
“A lot of people have been thanking us because the film has given them space to have these conversations when they wouldn’t have known how to broach the subject before,” she told Hello! Magazine on Tuesday.
“I thought it would be a lot of younger people but it’s generations above ours as well,” she added.
William said he has seen “the fewest “ BAFTA-nominated films ever this year, due in part to his wife’s recent abdominal surgery. He did have enough time for “Oppenheimer,” however, but confessed to yet another arguable oversight.
“I haven’t watched ‘Barbie’ yet,” he told The Telegraph earlier this month, “but I want to.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.