In an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live , Billy Eichner revealed the strict protocols he had to follow when meeting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at The Lion King premiere in London.
Billy Eichner plays “Timon” in the recently released live-action reboot of “The Lion King”.
So, naturally, he was invited to the official premiere in London, England, on July 14th.
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The entire cast of the movie was there — it was a star studded event.
But among the long list of celebrities on the invite list was none other than the royal couple, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In a recent interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, Billy explained that prior to the premiere, he was actually given rules and instructions outlining how he can approach the royal couple.
He was sent an email outlining the dos and don’ts .
It sounded pretty intense.
“What makes you nervous is that in the days leading up to it [the premiere], they email you a protcol of how you’re supposed to greet Prince Harry and Meghan,” he said.
They are royal and must be treated as such!
“And they are very intense about it,” he went on.
“Like, not kidding — you’re supposed to say ‘your royal highness’, you can’t speak until your hands are like, in a handshake with his”.
“My plus one — my guest, my very good friend, Jared — they said he had to stand behind me and not speak unless he was spoken to.”
“I’m not kidding!,” he exclaimed .
“Does that same rule apply to Jay-Z?” Billy joked. “I have a feeling it doesn’t.”
“But um, I got really nervous,” he said . “Because what do you say?”
“I completely freaked out.”
But then Billy explained how pleasant the royal couple turned out to be in person — despite all the daunting build-up.
Turns out Harry and Meghan’s reputation preceded them, because they were supposedly much more laid-back in person.
“Although, they were very very nice,” he said. “And totally chill and down to earth and lovely.”
And Jared got to say hello to them after all.
Billy revealed that he and Meghan actually got into a very casual conversation about how they went to the same college at the same time.
“What’s strange is that Meghan and I both went to the same college here — we both went to North Western, we were both theater majors, and we were there at the same time.”
“I didn’t know her when we were there,” he explained.
“So, we ended up having this very casual conversation about our acting teachers at North Western.”
“She was really cool,” he added.
“Harry was great too. They were very nice, lovely, beautiful looking people.”
So, there you have it. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are just as amazing in person as we always hoped they would be.
Billy later shared a tweet of a video of himself in the moments leading up to meeting Harry and Meghan.
“OMG Here I am completely freaking out to @Sethrogen about how I’m going to greet Prince Harry and Meghan I’M CRYING ,” he wrote .
“BTW they were both super down to earth and lovely,” he added to the thread.
“Meghan and I talked about our @NorthwesternU acting teachers (shout out to Mary Poole and David Downs!)”
