India McTaggart
The Prince of Wales has said he is not “calm enough at the moment” to watch the emotional film Hamnet.
Prince William shared his thoughts on the award-winning movie as he made his first joint appearance with the Princess of Wales since his uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday.
Speaking at the BAFTA ceremony, the heir to the throne said his wife had been left in “floods of tears” on Saturday night after watching Chloé Zhao’s film, which is nominated for 11 awards.
Asked if he had seen Hamnet, which is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about the death of Shakespeare’s young son from the plague, William said: “I need to be in quite a calm state, and I am not at the moment. I will save it.”
The royal family was plunged into crisis just three days ago when William’s uncle, Mountbatten-Windsor, became the first British royal in modern history to be arrested.
The late Queen’s second son now faces the prospect of jail time if he is charged and found guilty, as police investigate whether he shared confidential information while he worked as a British trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.
He was released under investigation on Thursday evening, his 66th birthday, following almost 12 hours in police custody.
The Waleses’ glamorous appearance at the BAFTA ceremony on Sunday evening, their first at the awards since 2023, marked a welcome reprieve from the unfolding scandal.
The princess, wearing a pale pink and cream Gucci gown that she previously wore to a 2019 gala, joked that watching Hamnet the night before the ceremony was a “bad idea” because she “ended up with very puffy eyes”.
She said: “It was so beautifully shot. The music as well. The score is fantastic.”
The princess, a mother of three, also shared her appreciation of the film’s “presentation of intergenerational grief”.
Hamnet follows Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway (Agnes), being consumed with grief after losing their young son, Hamnet, aged 11.
Speaking to Elaine Bedell, Southbank Centre chief executive, the princess praised the child actors in Hamnet, saying they did “so well”.
She added that she “loved the connection to nature” in the movie, explaining that “it’s very stripped back and you see the human emotions”.
She added: “We have a long list of films that we still need to get through.”
During their discussion before the ceremony, the prince also admitted that he had not yet seen Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet, and described the vampire horror film Sinners as “a bit dark”.
“I have seen One Battle After Another, that was very good,” he said. “We were not expecting it to start the way it did.”
The princess also revealed that her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, “are starting to get interested in films”.
“It’s a really great way to have some of the hard conversations with them,” she said.
The couple share a passion for British creativity and aim to champion it through their patronages, engagements and support of British designers.
William’s choice of a dark red velvet tuxedo jacket on Sunday evening matched his wife’s belt and clutch bag. They arrived at the ceremony’s red carpet shortly after a raft of Hollywood’s biggest names had filed into the auditorium, including nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet and Emma Stone.
Other red carpet appearances included the ceremony’s host, Scottish actor Alan Cumming, and a puppet of Paddington Bear, from the eponymous London musical, which presented the award for best children’s and family film.
The prince and princess sat in the front row for the ceremony. There was laughter at one point as Cumming introduced The Crown star Erin Doherty to the stage, saying: “There can’t be many actresses who have played a terrifying gang leader, Princess Anne and a terrified psychologist.
Earlier in February, the prince and princess made their first public comments about the Epstein files and Mountbatten-Windsor’s association with the late sex offender, issued through their spokesman.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “I can confirm the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continuing revelations. Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”
The couple have not made any further comment since Andrew’s arrest, but the King insisted that the “law must take its course” and that the police would have the “wholehearted support and co-operation” of the palace in their investigation.
The monarch said that a “full, fair and proper process” must now take place, and the Prince and Princess were understood to have backed the statement.
The Telegraph, London
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