James Blunt asked Carrie Fisher to be his son's godmother in the hope the honour would encourage her to "look after [herself]" better

And James revealed there was an underlying motivation in asking his friend - who died in December 2016 aged 60 after going into cardiac arrest, with drugs found in her system during post-mortem tests - to be godmother.

He told People magazine: "I told her everything. I told her when I met my wife, we chose engagement rings together. She's godmother to my child. I was with her the day before she died, and it was very, very sad.

"What was saddest, I suppose, is how I asked her to be godmother to my child, saying, 'I'm asking you to do this in the hope that you'll look after yourself a little bit better.' And she didn't, really."

James first met Carrie when he was dating one of her family friends and during a group lunch in London, he told the 'Sibling Rivalry' actress he was a musician and planning to head to Los Angeles, but when he admitted he didn't know where he was going to live, she instantly invited him to stay with her.

He reflected: "It was remarkable. The first three months, I didn't speak to her. I literally didn't. Her mom, Deborah Reynolds, was on the property. I'd see them around, but I would leave in the morning. I'd go off to the studio. I'd come back late, late, late at night, and I just didn't speak to her."

But after three months, the 51-year-old singer went into the kitchen late at night and found Carrie's staff talking about the actress, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 24.

He recalled: "They were saying, 'She's having an episode,' and that she was going mad. She needed to change her medication and maybe they needed to get help.

"What was interesting about all of this, while they were talking about her, she was in the room."

From there, James and Carrie began chatting and quickly became firm friends.

He said: "I just could see she was just skipping between subjects rather quickly, [but] her brain was still working.

"Suddenly, we just had this kind of moment where I went and sat on the end of her bed, and she spoke to me until five in the morning.

"And the next day, I came in after the studio. I sat on the end of the bed, and we spoke until five in the morning, and we kind of did that for the rest of the time that she was alive. She became my best friend, really, at that stage."