The fifth season of The Crown has officially aired on Netflix, and if you've seen clips of Princess Diana's date with a heart surgeon, you might be wondering if their romance actually happened? Answer: Yes! Diana remained intimate with Hasnat Khan from 1995 to 1997, and they broke up shortly before Diana started dating Dodi Fayed.
Diana and Hasnat met in hospital, and according to Sarah Bradford's book Diana, Princess Diana met Hasnat Royal Brompton Hospital in West London "while visiting the ailing husband of her therapist friend and counsellor Oonagh Shanley Toffolo." ”
Hasnat, who had performed Onag's husband's surgery, walked into the room and was introduced to Diana. Apparently, he barely noticed Diana, but Princess Diana immediately fell in love at first sight and said to her friend: "Isn't he handsome?" ”
Bradford said Hasnat, who was born in Pakistan and had worked in Sydney and London, was kind, respectable and compassionate. At first, Diana managed to keep their romance "secret". Just like the fifth season of The Crown, she goes to his hospital every night, and they have a few public dates.
In a 2008 interview with The Telegraph, Hasnat said he found Diana to be a very normal person with exceptional qualities, adding, "I think she's done great work all over the world, not just for the UK, but for everyone." This is very important. ”
Diana is extremely serious about her relationship with Hasnat (whom she calls "Mr. Wonder") and has big plans for their future. Sarah Bradford wrote that she "did everything in her power to advance his career" and hoped he would find work outside the UK so they could "marry and live together peacefully." ”
Diana is also close to Hasnat's family and visited them in Pakistan, which Hasnat told The Telegraph, saying: "She really enjoyed it when she came here. She also enjoys afternoon tea with my family. I think she loves the history and culture of this Asian family very much. ”
Beyond that, Hasnat had no interest in talking about his relationship with Diana: "I'm loyal to her not because she's a celebrity, but because I'm loyal to all my friends, and that's who I am." ”
According to Bradford, on November 3, 1996, the Sunday Mirror reported on Diana's and Hasnat romance, which became known to the public. Diana's attempt to deflect the subject by denying that they were dating, upset Hasnat so much that they briefly stopped dating. But they kept in touch despite the public's scrutiny. In fact, the affair helped Diana get rid of Prince Charles, Bradford wrote, and Diana no longer felt resentment towards Camilla and even sympathized with the negative public opinion caused by her relationship with Charles.
Although Diana and Hasnat are in love, he is hesitant about the prospects of marriage, and things are a bit on and off. They eventually ended their romance in July 1997. According to a friend of Diana's told Sarah Bradford, Hasnat was a wonderful person, he was in love with her, he was completely infatuated with her, but he didn't want to marry her.
While that meant Hasnat ended everything, he claimed in his investigation into Diana's death that Diana voluntarily ended the relationship, saying via the Daily Mail that "I think Diana finally realised that Dodi Fayed could give her everything I couldn't." He has money and can provide the necessary security. ”
Six days after Diana and Hasnat broke up (around July 20), Diana flew to Paris to begin dating Dodi Fayed. Then on July 30, a car accident occurred, and Diana and Dodi Fayed were unfortunately killed.
So, where does Hasnat live now? In May 2006, Hasnat married his first wife, Hadia Sher Ali, in Pakistan. Two years later, they divorced and Hasnat remarried Somi Sohail. As of 2020, he has been living in Essex.