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Barrymore told the Duchess of Sussex it was “the honor of my life” to meet the princess

Drew Barrymore told Meghan Markle a personal story about meeting Princess Diana when the Duchess of Sussex joined her popular talk show

On March 6, Meghan appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show to discuss her new Netflix series With Love, Meghan two days after its premiere. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, and Barrymore, 50, had a wide-ranging conversation about the “vow” Prince Harry made to her when they were dating, being a working mom to Prince Archie, 5 and Princess Lilibet, 3, what she hopes to express through her As ever brand and more – including Barrymore’s childhood connection to Princess Diana.

During a segment on the set (where Meghan brought cookies she baked with Archie and Lili!), Barrymore surprised her with a framed photograph showing her meeting Princess Diana at the London premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982.

“Oh, how sweet. Oh, that’s beautiful,” Meghan said with affection as Barrymore handed her the picture. “Oh my gosh. Look at your little face! Oh, that’s so sweet. That is so special that you had it here. Oh!” Meghan said and gave it back to Barrymore.

“I was lucky enough,” Barrymore began and flipped the frame to show the camera the black and white snap of her handing Diana the doll behind the scenes of the movie premiere.

It means so much to me to have met such an incredible human being that transcended everything. It was the honor of my life,” said Barrymore.

“Oh my gosh, well, I will tell H that for sure,” Meghan said, referring to her husband Harry by a nickname she calls him.

“Okay, cool,” said Barrymore, and they both laughed.

In December 1982, Barrymore, then 7, met Princess Diana at the London premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and handed her a plush version of the film’s alien character. Barrymore’s turn as Gertie in the Steven Spielberg classic proved to be her breakout role, and she later described meeting the Princess of Wales as “the most exciting moment” of her young life.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” she said on a 2018 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. “It was the most exciting moment for me to meet a real-life princess. The real-life princess, the People’s princess. Diana was and is and will always be the epitome of a woman that all little girls look up to.”

When host Jimmy Kimmel jokingly asked if she thought Diana threw out the toy after, Barrymore insisted that the royal would never.

No! Look at the way she’s looking at it! She was so kind and so nice,” Barrymore said. Princess Diana was known to connect with children on a special level, perhaps given her experience as a kindergarten teacher before she married the future King Charles in 1981.

“I have to say, growing up with her as a princess was just such a good example,” Barrymore told Kimmel.

Princess Diana died at age 36 in 1997 following a car accident in Paris. Years later, her son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan would honor her by naming their daughter Lilibet Diana. Princess Lilibet, now 3, was named in tribute to her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth, whose childhood nickname was Lilibet, and her grandmother Diana who she never got to meet.

Prince Harry included two diamonds from his late mother’s personal collection in the engagement ring he proposed to Meghan with in 2016 and told the BBC in a later interview he did so “to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together.”

In her most intimate interview in years, the Duchess of Sussex opens up to PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story about rediscovering herself beyond motherhood, the challenges of building a business and how her new ventures have sparked a “honeymoon period” with Prince Harry.

My husband met me when I had The Tig, and I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing that I was doing when he first met me,” Meghan says, referring to the lifestyle blog she ran while they were dating.

“It’s almost like a honeymoon period again,” she says, “because it’s exactly how it was in the beginning when he’d watch me scribbling away, writing newsletters, fine-tuning edits and just really being in the details of it. I think he loves watching as much as I love doing that creative process. It’s just been fun. This is who I’ve always been.”