Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have found their rhythm living in California with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and the chapter began with what Harry called the “freedom flight” five years ago today.

In a home video shared in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Prince Harry described their flight from Canada to Los Angeles on March 14, 2020 as the “freedom flight.” Harry, Meghan and Archie had been staying on Vancouver Island as the couple stepped back from their working royal roles in the U.K., a decision they announced that January.

“Good morning. It’s 6 a.m. on the 14th of March, and we are on the freedom flight. We are leaving Canada, and we are headed to Los Angeles,” the Duke of Sussex, 40, said in the selfie-style video shared in the docuseries, which was featured in an official trailer for the show. “Shh,” he said, raising a finger to his lips.

“Grandma’s here,” Harry said, panning the camera to Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, on the private plane with them. “Pula’s here with a ball in her mouth,” he said, showing the family’s Labrador and their beagle, Guy (whose death Meghan announced in January). 

“Archie, say hi,” Meghan said in the footage from the flight before she gave her then-10-month-old son (now 5) a kiss on the head. “We’re about to go where Mommy is from.” 

Turning the camera to speak again, Harry explained that they were on the move thanks to a friend who wanted to help.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their “freedom flight” to the U.S.A.

Netflix

“This is the current situation thanks to another amazing friend who we’ve never met but who believes in us and wants to help,” Prince Harry said in the intimate video shared in Harry & Meghan. He was referring to director Tyler Perry, who offered his Beverly Hills home to the family as they got settled in the U.S. in Meghan’s home state of California. 

Later, the couple would ask Perry to be the godfather of their daughter Princess Lilibet, now 3, who was born in California in 2021. While appearing in Harry & Meghan, Perry said he was “absolutely honored” when they asked him to be Lilibet’s godfather.

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Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Tyler Perry.

Kevin Mazur/Getty; Monica Schipper/Getty

Prince Harry and Meghan used Perry’s Beverly Hills home as a base with baby Archie during the spring and summer of 2020 before buying a home in the Santa Barbara enclave of Montecito. In his memoir Spare, published in January 2023, Harry wrote about how Perry’s kindness made all the difference — with a link to his late mother, Princess Diana.

Harry wrote in Spare that he and his wife contacted the Madea creator after he reached out to Meghan “telling her she wasn’t alone” before the 2018 royal wedding, and he recounted how they relayed to him that it felt like there was nowhere to go. The World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus outbreak was a global pandemic in March 2020, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted to leave Canada before the country closed its borders.

“Look…take my house,” Harry wrote in Spare that Perry said then. “My house in Los Angeles. It’s gated, it’s secure — you’ll be safe there. I’ll keep you safe.” 

Shocked by the generosity, Harry wrote that when he asked Perry why, he replied, “My mother loved your mother.” 

Prince Harry, Meghan, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie in the family’s 2024 holiday card.

Archewell

“After your mother visited Harlem, that was it. She could do no wrong in Maxine Perry’s book,” the Duke of Sussex quoted the director as saying. Princess Diana’s trip to New York City in 1989 was her first solo overseas trip as a working royal and included a memorable stop at the AIDS unit of Harlem Hospital, connecting to her wider work of smashing stigmas around the disease.

Prince Harry and Meghan accepted Perry’s offer to use his home as they settled in the U.S., with the Duke of Sussex likening it to a Xanadu-like paradise. Meghan, 43, further revealed in a 2022 interview with The Cut that the celebrated director later gave them a grand piano as a  housewarming gift for their Montecito home, telling them, “Write the soundtrack for your life.”

Speaking to PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story about rediscovering herself beyond motherhood, the challenges of building a business and her private world with her family, the Duchess of Sussex reflects on the past five years since the move and how much is different.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex photographed in Montecito, California, in March 2024.

“Five years ago, Archie was only 8 or 9 months old, so my life has changed so much,” she says, recounting her motherhood journey of welcoming a newborn, being pregnant while raising a toddler and raising both Archie and Lili. “Anyone who has children will tell you, it’s a huge evolution as a woman during that time.”

As she looks ahead to the next five or even 10 years, she’s open to what’s to come. 

“Can you imagine? This is just the beginning. Life is full of surprises,” Meghan says. “And my gosh, in 10 years, Archie will be driving!”

As Meghan embraces her entrepreneurial pursuits (unveiling lifestyle brand As ever and Netflix series With Love, Meghan in recent weeks), the couple continues their work with the Archewell Foundation as Harry focuses on his philanthropic commitments. 

“I imagine that it’s the same as it would be for any couple,” Meghan tells PEOPLE. “You have your individual jobs, but then you have things that you share together.” 

“We’ve been such a close team for so long that we’re just in it beat by beat with each other,” she shares. “And I love that. To be able to be a female founder and do that with my husband’s support means everything.”