Prince of Wales to attend the Baftas

THE Prince of Wales will be attending the Bafta film awards in London, the palace has confirmed.

William, pictured, who is president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta), is attending his first highprofile royal engagement since his wife’s operation. It was thought he would miss the event on

Sunday at the

Southbank

Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Last year, he attended the ceremony along with the Princess of Wales, where they met award-winners Cate Blanchett, Austin Butler and Emma Mackey.

Kate had surgery on January 16 at the London Clinic and has since returned to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor to be with their three children.

Since the royal health announcements, which have also included his father the King’s unspecified cancer diagnosis and separate prostate treatment, William has attended few events.

He gave a speech at a London charity engagement raising funds for London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s new fleet of helicopters earlier this month.

Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic about atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer is expected to be a big winner at the Baftas after Oppenheimer received 13 nominations.

Cillian Murphy, who played the titular role in the film, will go up against fellow Irish star Barry Keoghan, who is nominated for his leading role in Emerald Fennell’s viral black comedy Saltburn, in the best actor category.

Also expected to attend are Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, who are both nominated for their roles in Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, and Colman Domingo, who is nominated for Rustin, where he plays the man who helped Martin Luther King Jr and others organise the 1963 March On Washington.

Mulligan’s best actress rivals Margot Robbie, who is nominated for Barbie; Emma Stone, for Poor Things; Sandra Huller, for Anatomy Of A Fall; Fantasia Barrino, for The Color Purple and Vivian Oparah, recognised for British romantic comedy Rye Lane, will also be at the awards.

The ceremony will also feature a live musical performance by Sophie Ellis-Bextor who will sing her 2001 hit