In 1966, Palin married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's teleplay for the 1987 BBC television drama "East of Ipswich". The couple have three children and four grandchildren. Daughter Rachel is a BBC TV director, whose work includes "". Son William is Director of Conservation at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London and oversaw the 2018–19 restoration of the Painted Hall. A photograph of William as a baby briefly appeared in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film". His nephew is the theatre designer Jeremy Herbert. Palin is an agnostic.