Emma Watson made a rare public appearance in London on Monday, June 22, stepping out to support Prince William’s United for Wildlife charity.
The Harry Potter actress, 36, took part in a panel discussion with William, 44, and actor Benedict Cumberbatch at the event.
Watson wore a black top and flowing white skirt for the occasion.
The Prince of Wales hosted Monday’s business forum, which took place during London Climate Action Week, to unite business leaders around the world on how to better tackle the illegal wildlife trade and environmental crime.
“Storytelling is really powerful, and the story that you tell as a brand and the transparency you have and the way that you talk around these issues, it matters,” Watson said. “It matters to young people.”
Watson has not had a major starring role in a movie since 2019’s Little Women, instead focusing her efforts on her philanthropic work. In addition to supporting William and Princess Kate Middleton’s Royal Foundation, she is a UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador.
Last year, the actress gave a rare interview about her life since stepping away from Hollywood.
“I’ll never say that I’ll quit acting. I’ll always be an actor. I’m still open to doing it again,” she said during a September 2025 appearance on the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast.
Watson first found fame as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series released between 2001 and 2011. She starred alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in all eight movies.
After Harry Potter, she said she often felt rejected on film sets, explaining, “It broke me.”
“Most people don’t come to those environments looking for friendships,” the actress recalled. “I found the rejection really painful. I think it was so unusual to make a set of films for 12 years, and we were a community.”
“I was coming to those sets with an expectation that I think I had developed on Harry Potter, which was that … the people I worked with were going to be my family and that we were going to be lifelong friends,” she continued. “I came to work looking for friendship, and that was a very painful experience for me outside of Harry Potter and in Hollywood.”
“You always get asked when you are promoting these big films, like, ‘Do you guys hang out on set and are you all friends?’ And everyone sort of nods enthusiastically. But the truth is, no one has seen each other outside of work,” Watson shared. “The schedule is insane. Everyone’s so tired that when they get any time off, you’re going straight back to your hotel room to try to claw in any piece of rest that you possibly can.”
She added, “Friendships require time and trust and presence, and those things very rarely come about. They can, and they do occasionally, but it’s more of a solar eclipse than an everyday situation.”
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