GettyAnother day, another Great British Royal Protocol for the Duchess of Cambridge to dodge.
Kate Middleton will be attending the BAFTA awards ceremony this Sunday in London, alongside a glittering cohort of film and television personalities, who’ll all be wearing black in support of the Time’s Up movement.
Yet Kate will have to decide between showing support for the movement – which opposes the mistreatment of women in show business – and breaking the royal family protocol.
GettyRoyal protocol dictates she should remain unbiased and avoid making a public political statement – which extends to her carefully curated fashion choices too.
Although Middleton has used her public platform to support causes close to her heart, such as the Head’s Up charity, launched with her husband The Duke of Cambridge and HRH Prince Harry, to end mental health stigma, she faces a tricky decision.
The Time’s Up movement, founded by a collective of Hollywood leading ladies, saw most female attendees at the 75th Golden Globes Awards Ceremony (January 7) don black garments in a public display of solidarity with victims of sexual harassment.
Some men also showed their support, wearing gold pins on their tuxedos.
Last month Deadline posted a copy of the letter which was circulated around BAFTA attendees – it called for stars to ‘continue the incredible movement this side of the Atlantic’.
It added wearing black is a ‘strong, unifying and simple statement’ which supports people who’ve experienced sexual harassment and abuse or been held back due to an imbalance of power.
GettyIt continued:
We hope that those of us who are privileged enough to have a platform, can use it to raise awareness of the experiences of women beyond our industry, whose experiences are often silenced and marginalised.
While the British monarchy is supposed to remain neutral and unbiased about making any kind of political statements, the Time’s Up movement is not aligned with any party so the Duchess could face backlash if she chose not to wear black.
PABlanca Blanco, a 36-year-old actress, faced backlash for wearing red to the Golden Globes and was forced to respond to keyboard warriors over her choice of outfit.
She quickly shut them down by tweeting ‘the issue is bigger than my dress colour #TIMESUP’ and this ‘shaming is part of the problem’.
The actor tweeted:
The issue is bigger than my dress color #TIMESUP
— Blanca Blanco (@blancablanco) January 8, 2018
The Time’s Up initiative is backed by more than 300 women in Hollywood including Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Laura Dern, Jessica Chastain, Reese Witherspoon, Salma Hayek and Oprah Winfrey.
The group banded together to advocate for gender parity in executive ranks and provide legal defense aid of $13m (£9m) for sexual harassment victims.
It was set up at the start of the 2018 in response to a wave of sexual harassment allegations in the industry, particularly in relation to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
PAThe personalities in attendance at the BAFTAs are expected to follow the unwritten dress protocol.
The Duke of Cambridge, who’s been a president of BAFTA since 2010, will also be on presenting duties, as he dishes out the prestigious Fellowship award to Sir Ridley Scott.
Kensington Palace offered no comment on the fashion choice of Kate, who’s currently pregnant, ahead of the awards ceremony.
PAFor support and information, you can call the Freephone 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline, run in partnership between Refuge and Women’s Aid on 0808 2000 247.
You can also call the Men’s Advice Line (managed by Respect) on 0808 801 0327.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.