Hasnat Khan, Diana's last love who almost made her convert to Islam
When Princess Diana passed away in August 1997, she had been in a relationship with businessman Dodi Al Fayed for just over two months, whom she had met a decade earlier. However, there were not a few who assured that this romance was the way that Lady Di used to forget her true love, Hasnat Khan.
Khan was the most serious relationship the princess had since her divorce from Prince Charles in 1992, yet the constant pressure from the media and persecution from the paparazzi proved too much for him.
Hasnat Khan is a Pakistani cardiothoracic surgeon who met the princess while she was visiting the husband of one of her friends, who had undergone surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Diana was dazzled by the expressive eyes of the doctor and made up her mind to meet him.
The lives of Diana and Hasnat, who was born into a Muslim family in the small town of Jhelum, couldn't be more different in some ways, but their humanitarian work was what brought them together.
The couple tried to keep their relationship as private as they could, however, the worldwide interest that the princess aroused caused the paparazzi to discover them and her friends to leak some details.
Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler, for example, claimed that the princess referred to her boyfriend as “Mr. Wonderful ”and that she had even said that she was his“ soul mate ”and“ the man she loved more than anyone else ”.
Meanwhile, her friend Roberto Devorik told Vanity Fair that “Carlos was the love of his life. But I'm sure Diana would have married Dr. Khan, because they were so in love. "
Rosa Monckton, who vacationed with Diana in the Greek islands just two weeks before her death, said during the accident investigation that Lady Di was still in love with the surgeon. “She was deeply upset and hurt when he ended the relationship. She was very in love with him. She hoped they could have a future together. She wanted to marry him, ”she added.
According to the woman, the princess spent much more time talking about Khan than about Fayed. "It was clear to me that she really missed Hasnat and I think Dodi was a distraction from the pain she felt from the breakup," she confessed.
British television and film producer Jemima Goldsmith was a little more specific in her statements. The woman claimed that Diana was "madly in love" with Hasnat and that she "wanted to marry him, even if it meant living in Pakistan."
Goldsmith, who at the time had just become the wife of current Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and converted to Islam, said that “(Diana) came to visit me twice in Pakistan to help raise funds for Imran (Khan's) hospital, but on both occasions she also went to meet his family in secret, to discuss the possibility of marrying Hasnat ”, he revealed. "She wanted to know how difficult it had been for me to adjust to life in Pakistan," she added.
The surgeon, for her part, also assured during the investigation of the death of the princess, that she had confessed to him that she was considering moving to Pakistan, as she believed that it was the only way they could have a normal life together .
At that time she even told herself that she would convert to Islam for him. Rumors that grew stronger when in 1996 Diana traveled to the doctor's hometown to meet her family. On the occasion she also wore a traditional shalwar kameez, baggy pants combined with a dress, out of respect for the Muslim faith of her groom's parents.
But things were not easy at all due to pressure from the media. In fact, when Khan visited her at Kensington Palace, he had to sneak into the trunk of Diana's butler's car, at least Burrell claimed in the Amazon Prime documentary, The Diana Story.
The harassment was such that in June 1997, two years after the romance began, it came to an end.
A loyal man
Although Kahn has never wanted to reveal the reasons for the breakdown, his father, Abdul Rasheed Khan, assured the same newspaper that his son shed light on the reasons why they never made their relationship. He “said:’ If I married her [Diana], our marriage would not last more than a year. We are culturally very different. She is from Venus and I am from Mars. If it ever happened, it would be like a marriage of two different planets, '"he said.
Diana's death, nearly three months after ending their relationship, was a severe blow to Khan, who attended the princess's funeral but kept a low profile.
The first time he spoke publicly about their relationship, it was almost 11 years after Diana's death, in an interview with The Telegraph. There he took great care of her words to respect the privacy of the princess and not sell her romance as James Hewitt did, who received a large sum of money to write about her love affair with her.
“Generally I don't talk about people, family or friends. This is how I am. I am loyal to her [the Princess] not because she is a celebrity, but because I am loyal to all my friends. I'm like this. If I had said some things about Diana before 1997, she could have responded but since she is not here, it would be very unfair to make a comment about her, "he said.
Diana and Hasnat's relationship was made into a movie in 2013, in the film Diana, starring Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews.
The film, however, did not have the blessing of the doctor, as was assured at the time. “It is a complete lie. I have never given any approval, ”he told Hello magazine.
“It's based on gossip and Diana's friends talking about a relationship they didn't know much about, and some of my relatives who didn't know much about it either. Everything is based on hypotheses and gossip, ”he said.
Almost 10 years after Diana's death, Hasnat married, in a marriage arranged by his parents, to Hadia Sher Ali, a 29-year-old Pakistani descendant of Afghan royalty. The link was at a lavish ceremony in Pakistan, yet the relationship lasted only 18 months.
In 2017, he found love again and married another young Muslim woman, of whom no further details are available.
The doctor currently works in his country, where he intends to establish free heart health services for the poor, at the Abdul Razzaq Welfare Trust Hospital in Badlot near Jhelum, his hometown.
