NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Diana's romance with Dodi was a ploy, says new book

Paran Balakrishnan in London

Princess Diana's romance with the son of Harrod's boss Mohamed Al Fayed was a desperate ploy to win back Pakistani-born heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, according to The Mail on Sunday.

Diana orchestrated the Mediterranean holiday yacht photos of her kissing Al Fayed's son, Dodi as part of the ruse, the newspaper claims. The grainy photos of the swim-suited princess with Dodi, shot with a telephoto lens, made front pages around the world.

The former princess wanted to persuade Hasnat Khan to marry her, according to the newspaper, but he turned her down.

The newspaper quotes author and award winning documentary-maker Kate Snell as saying that Imran Khan, husband of Diana's friend Jemima, had been persuaded to intervene on Diana'a behalf with the surgeon when she returned from a trip to Paris in the summer of 1997.

The princess, whose final Paris fling with Dodi ended with the pair's death in a highspeed car crash, was fascinated by Islam and Muslim men and was drawn to Hasnat Khan because of his medical skills, Snell says. Diana once disguised herself in a brown wig and legging to meet Hasnat incognito, says Snell in her book, Diana: Her Last Love, which is being serialised by The Mail.

Hasnat Khan in turn was drawn to Diana because of her empathy for the sick.

But she quotes close relatives as saying that Khan -- who works with Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and world-renowned heart treatment centre Harefield Hospital in Middlesex -- ended their two-year relationship because of insurmountable differences in terms of culture, status and finances.

Snell says that Diana had won the support of Hasnat's grandmother, Nanny Appa, and other relatives during visits to Lahore and that they had urged him to marry her. But the surgeon feared a "media circus" if he married the princess, Snell says. She names six members of the Khan family among 39 "first-hand" witnesses" who provided information for the book.

Until now, the Mail said, it was widely assumed that Khan, who lives in Windsor, Berkshire, ended their relationship long before Diana's affair with Dodi. But the book says she did not make the final break until after her first holiday with the Fayed family in late July 1997.

The 40-year-old surgeon had no comment on the book, saying: "I don't talk to anyone on the subject. I have not seen the book and I haven't contributed to it."

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report