Tyler Perry is more than one of our favorite movie producers and actors; he’s also a godfather to royalty. In the final episode of Harry and Meghan, a 6-episode docu-series that aired on Netflix on Dec 15th, Perry shares that he’s the godfather to their one-year-old daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
During the episode, the Madea creator and star recounts how he met Duchess Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. If you recall, Perry helped Meghan and Harry with a place to stay when they moved to the United States from England in 2020. He housed them at his estate until they bought a nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito, California, in 2020.
In the final episode, Markle talks about the birth of her daughter and how that addition to her family made it feel complete. That is when Perry reveals that the royal couple asked him to be the godfather of their daughter.
“We’ll call, and we’ll talk about silly things, but they were pretty serious on the phone, and I go, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ They said, ‘Well, we’d like for you to be Lili’s godfather.’ I go, ‘Whoa.’ I had to take a minute to take that in,” Perry said. “And I thought, ‘I’d be honored. I’d be absolutely honored.'”
Perry and Markle became good friends in 2018, shortly after she married Prince Harry. The award-winning producer says he reached out to her to empathize about how much life would change after she became a royal family member. He also said he could talk or offer support if she needed it.
After Perry was asked to be Lilibet’s godfather, he shared his apprehension.
“I got off the phone, took it all in, and then called them back, and I go, ‘Uh, hold on a second—does that mean we gotta go over there and do all of that in the church with [the royal family] and figure that all out, because I don’t wanna do that,” he says. “Maybe we can do a little private ceremony here and let that be that, and if you have to do it there, that’s okay.”
Lilibet’s name pays homage to Harry’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and his late mother, Princess Diana.
In September, Perry appeared on the Today Show with hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager to discuss his relationship with the dutchess, recount how they ended up staying in his estate and commented on their love.
“It was a very difficult time for them,” Perry, 53, said. “What I know about the two of them, that I wish the world knew, is how much they love—these two people love each other. They found each other—out of all these odds against them finding each other, they found each other.”