The Prince of Wales made an awkward remark to Rising Star winner Mia McKenna-Bruce. Photo / Getty Images
The Prince of Wales made an awkward remark to Rising Star winner Mia McKenna-Bruce. Photo / Getty Images
Warning: mention of sexual assault
Prince William has seemingly made an awkward gaffe at the Baftas, making a misguided — and, to some, problematic and offensive — comment to an actress who won an award for her film.
The Prince of Wales told Rising Star winner Mia McKenna-Bruce that making the film How To Have Sex appeared to be a lot of fun, even though, in the movie, her character ends up being raped. He later revealed that he had not seen the movie, reports Daily Mail Australia.
William made the ill-received remark as he mingled backstage with Bafta nominees at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
McKenna-Bruce, 26, won the Bafta award for her performance as Tara, a virgin who goes on vacation with her pals to Greek island Malia where she is sexually assaulted.
The star expressed her hope that the movie would better society’s “conversation we’ve been having around consent” and help “people talk about situations they’ve been through”.
Prince William, Prince of Wales meets Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Sophie Wilde and Mia Mckenna-Bruce, winner of the EE Rising Star Award, backstage during the Bafta Film Awards 2024 at The Royal Festival Hall. Photo / Getty Images
The prince had welcomed the Rising Star nominee on Sunday night, saying: “I haven’t yet watched your film — I think it looked like you had a lot of fun all the way through.”
The dad-of-three shook hands with McKenna-Bruce and her fellow nominees — The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri, Fair Play’s Phoebe Dynevor and The Portable Door’s Sophie Wilde — while confessing that he had not watched any of the films they had been nominated for.
When entering the backstage area, he said: “The category was so strong, all of you — it was like who is going to pull this off?
“It was incredible. It was very close between all of you.”
After McKenna-Bruce encouraged the royal to give How To Have Sex a watch, he responded: “I’ve got a lot of films to catch up on.
Mia Mckenna-Bruce won the Rising Star award at the Bafta Film Awards. Photo / Getty Images
“Normally I get quite ahead of the awards ceremony, I get to see quite a few of them. I haven’t managed to get that many through.”
Speaking on How To Have Sex and its importance,McKenna-Bruce has described the film as a pivotal watch “for young people in particular who are at this point in their lives of self-discovery”.
She added: “There’s a kind of expectation that you should just know what to do when it comes to losing your virginity or talking about consent, then you’re just left to figure it out on your own.”
McKenna-Bruce has described the film as a pivotal watch “for young people in particular who are at this point in their lives of self-discovery”.
How To Have Sex is a 15-rated film written and directed by Molly Manning Walker. The movie won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes Festival last May, where the film had its world premiere.
He apologised to the audience earlier in the evening for confirming his attendance at the last minute, and for also not watching many of the nominated movies beforehand — adding that, understandably, he had “other things” on his mind, alluding to his wife’s condition and father King Charles’ recent cancer diagnosis.
