Prince William attended the BAFTA Awards Sunday night and presented the Fellowship award to Dame Helen Mirren.  William is the president of BAFTA, apparently.  I didn’t know that until they announced he would be there and said he was president (I guess he’s done BAFTA events for years and I just didn’t notice that he was president).  To that I have to say, what the f—?  That seems so random to me.  William is all about homelessness, vets, and wildlife, right?  Why is he randomly the president of BAFTA?  Whatever.

William arrived on the BAFTA red carpet to screaming crowds, which is in stark contrast to when he arrived to the Hobbit red carpet to dead silence.  He was escorted by Amanda Berry, the Chief Executive of BAFTA, who sat next to him all night.  Like a true celeb, William stopped to take photos with fans before entering the Royal Opera House.  Seriously, he spent, like, ten minutes on the carpet.

He was escorted into the Opera House after everyone else, and they all had to stand as he entered.  Then he sat front row, ahead of people like Helen Mirren, Martin Scorsese, and Leo DiCaprio. Cate Blanchett even made a joke that she was sitting all the way in row G so she didn’t think she was going to win.  So yeah, William sat front row center like he was some A-list celeb, instead of watching discreetly from the Royal Box like Charles and the Queen usually do at these types of events.

During the musical act William high-fived Tinie Tempah as he walked by.  For what it’s worth, Tempah reached his hand out and William put his hand up in response.  So it wasn’t William’s idea. In fact, William seemed a bit embarrassed by it judging by his facial expression.

I actually did watch the BAFTAs on BBC America.  I’m not sure if the broadcasts were different, or how much, but I did notice that they did one cut-away to William during the beginning of the program and that was it as far as cut-aways. Whereas they cut away to Bradley Cooper and Judy Dench, among many others, multiple times.  I just thought that was kind of funny.  Also, whenever Stephen Fry, the host, mentioned William, the crowd barely responded, if at all.  Clearly they weren’t that impressed that he was there.  The other A-listers took precedence, as they should.

My thoughts while watching William present:  1. Jeremy Irons!  2. Why is Jeremy Irons standing three feet behind William?  3. Damn Will, learn your lines; your head bobbing is annoying.  4. Ugh, of course you made a The Queen joke.  5. Speech length: 33 seconds.  6. Ha, step aside William and let the pro have the mic!

Yeah, I criticize Kate all the time for not memorizing her 1-minute speeches, and bobbing her head so much I get dizzy watching her.  Well, this is me giving the same sh-t to William.  That intro was 33 seconds, I timed it, and basic as hell, there is no reason for William not to have that memorized.  His head bobbing drove me insane.  Seriously, William, you can do better than that.  How long have you been giving speeches?  Geez.  You know, I would give William the benefit of the doubt when comparing him to someone like Jeremy Irons, or any of the other actors at the show, because they are paid to memorize lines and they’ve been doing it for years, but even the directors and producers were better at speaking than William.  There is no excuse for his 33 seconds of head bobbing.

I really don’t know why William even attended the show and presented the award, but whatever.  I’m sure he was thrilled to meet all the famous people.  I was surprised Kate didn’t attend, as arm candy, to meet the famous people, but then I remembered she gets her own “I get to meet famous people” event tonight when she and the Queen host a reception for a bunch of famous people at Buckingham Palace.  I’m sure she’s thrilled.

Side note, could Gillian Anderson not give any more sh-ts about presenting for Best Animated Film?  She looked like she didn’t want to be there, like she didn’t give a sh-t about what she was saying.  Damn, girl, at least be nice about it or don’t accept when they ask you to present.

PS. What the heck is up with William’s expression in this picture?

Here is the video of William’s high-five:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNa6l7zy3HQ&w=560&h=315]

For what it’s worth, William did seem pretty engaged when talking to fans:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn_RRlxIHrU&w=560&h=315]