Who Is Mark Dyer? New Details About Man Prince Harry Selected To Be The Godfather Of Megan Markle's Baby
His identity was hidden for some time.
getty Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their first child in May 2019, a son named Archie. As the world was awaiting the birth of the royal baby, the couple themselves had started planning for the prince or princess to be welcomed in true royal fashion.
While Meghan put her attention on preparing for the birth — even reportedly hiring a Doula to assist her — Harry did his part to attend to royal traditions that surround welcoming a new baby to the monarchy. One such tradition is the naming of godparents for the baby.
Royals typically name half a dozen or more people to be godparents, and being asked to take that role is considered a high honor and a mark of friendship with the parents to be. At that time, however, the Duke and Duchess kept the identity of Archie's godparents a secret.
Who is Mark Dyer? Although Archie's christening took place back in July 2019, it wasn't until recently that the royal baby's godparents were revealed, a decision that has been considered very controversial.
Until now, there was only a lot of speculation about who would take on those roles for the newest royal baby. Mark Dyer, a man who was like a second father to Harry, is Archie's godfather, along with Tiggy Pettifer as his godmother, who was Harry and William's nanny when they were kids.
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Who is Mark Dyer and who is Tiggy Pettifer? Read on to learn more.
1. Dyer and Pettifer will take on all of the traditional godparent duties.
According to the Church of England's website, a godparent’s role in a child’s life is to “make big promises to encourage their godchild to grow in faith and commit to helping them understand how to live their life in a Christian way.” In addition, godparents are encouraged to confidantes for their godchildren.
EXCLUSIVE; PRINCE HARRY PICKS ‘Second Father’ MARK DYER AS BABY’S GODFATHER. https://t.co/tDeJEBJcMs pic.twitter.com/WFBD0PGYp8
— officialbluebloodz (@officialbluebl1) February 9, 2019
2. Who is Mark Dyer? He's mentored young royals before.
Dyer has already taken on a significant role in mentoring young royals. Prince Charles asked Dyer to be equerry to Harry after the death of Harry’s mother Diana. Officially, and equerry is an attendant or advisor to a member of the royal family, but Dyer stepped in and emotionally supported Harry during his time of grief.
After receiving his education at Cheltenham College, Dyer — also known as Marko — then worked as an equerry to the Prince of Wales for 18 months. He was brought in to be the male counterpart to their former royal nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke.
Dyer and Lee-Bourke even briefly dated before he married Texan heiress Amanda Kline in 2010.
3. He's been there for Harry during important times in his life.
Dyer has been at Harry’s side in good times and bad. In one particularly memorable case, Dyer stepped in after Harry admitted to smoking marijuana. He took the prince to a drug rehab facility to teach him about the effects of illegal drug use.
However, Dyer has on occasion been photographed smoking cigarettes with the prince when he was young, leading some people to brand him as a bad influence. Sources close to the royal family say that nothing could be further from the truth.
4. Dyer has been involved in many charitable causes.
Dyer was also instrumental in setting up Harry’s charity Sentebale, which helps HIV-afflicted orphans in Lesotho and Botswana. HIV and AIDS were causes Diana supported before her death. In fact, if it wasn't for Dyer, Sentebale might not exist.
It was a friend of Dyer's, Prince Seeiso, who invited Harry to the countries for two months. Harry was only 19 at the time, and the children made a huge impression on him.
5. Harry wanted to give back to his mentor.
Harry has been with Dyer at one of his milestone moments as well, serving as an usher in Dyer's 2010 wedding. Now, a source close to the palace says, "he wants to do something official for his lifelong mentor to recognize the support he’s given him throughout his life.”
In addition, Dyer's son, Jasper, was chosen to be the page boy at Harry's wedding and is also Harry's godson.
6. Tiggy Pettifer was chosen as the baby's godmother.
Dyer was only one of the multiple godparents selected for the royal baby. There had been a lot of rumors about who else Harry and Meghan were going to choose. While Harry was likely to select more Brits, people were expecting Meghan to choose Americans who have been close to her.
Possibilities originally included Amal Clooney and her husband George, Meghan’s makeup artist Daniel Martin, and tennis champion — and one of her best friends — Serena Williams. However, the royal couple settled on Tiggy Pettifer to be their baby's godmother.
Pettifer, who's formally known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, was the former nanny to both Harry and William. Similar to Dyer, Pettifer has been close to both royals for their entire lives and Harry is the godfather to her own son, Tom.
7. Has a third godparent also been revealed?
Harry's childhood friend, Charlie van Straubenzee, was also reportedly said to have joined Dyer and Pettifer as another godparent to the royal baby. The childhood pals, who met at Ludgrove Prep School, both attended each other's weddings.
However, none of these names have yet to be officially confirmed by Harry and Markle themselves.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side.