The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will be guests at this year's EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, it has been confirmed by Kensington Palace. Prince William, who is the President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), will be joined by his wife Kate at the star-studded affair next month.
The Duke will also be on hand present the Fellowship, which is awarded annually at the ceremony, and is the highest accolade bestowed by the Academy to an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, television or games. Past recipients include Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Judi Dench and Helen Mirren.
Prince William and Kate will attend this year's British Academy Film Awards ceremony
The statement, released on Friday, read: "BAFTA has a year-round learning and new talent programme, including a campaign to support young people from all backgrounds entering the film, television and games industries, which The Duke of Cambridge helped relaunch in 2013, and a scholarships programme, which features the 'Prince William Scholarships in Film, Television and Games'. The Duke has been President of the Academy since February 2010, and both he and The Duchess have supported BAFTA’s charitable activities by attending events across the charity’s learning programme, including Young Game Designers and BAFTA Kids events, as well as others related to building cross-cultural collaborations with the creative industries in China."
The Duke will also be on hand present the Fellowship
Earlier this month, the nominations for the 70th edition of the BAFTA Awards were revealed. And leading this year's list of honoured celebs were British stars Andrew Garfield and Emily Blunt, who have both received nominations in the best acting categories. It was announced that Andrew, who was born in Los Angeles but raised in Surrey, will be competing against Ryan Gosling, Casey Affleck, Jake Gyllenhaal and Viggo Mortensen in the leading actor category. Andrew, 33, will take on La La Land's Ryan again, for his role in Hackshaw Ridge - the latter was awarded with the best actor gong at this year's Golden Globes.
Emily, who received huge praise for her role in The Girl on the Train, will go head to head with Meryl Streep for the film Florence Foster Jenkins, Amy Adams for Arrival, Golden Globe winner Emma Stone for La La Land and Natalie Portman for her portrayal of the former First Lady in Jackie. La La Land has been nominated in 11 categories, including best film, best director and original screenplay. Other films, which are set to do well, are Arrival and Nocturnal Animals, which both bagged an equally impressive nine nominations. The coveted awards will be handed out at a star-studded ceremony at London's Royal Albert Hall on February 12.