News East-West
LONDON: Princess Diana was so madly in love with London-based Pakistani doctor Hasnat Khan that she wanted to move to Pakistan with him, reveals Jemima Khan.
Jemima Khan, former wife of cricketer Imran Khan, and her Diana’s friend Rosa Monckton have revealed this in an article in the September issue of Vanity Fair.
Diana, who died in a car accident in Paris with her friend Fayed Dodi in August 1997, dated Hasnat Khan from 1995 and 1997.
Jemima claims that Diana sought her advice to move to Pakistan. But it didn’t materialize as Hasnat Khan refused to marry her even as the Princess was “madly in love” with him.
“She wanted to know how hard it had been for me to adapt to a life in Pakistan,” Jemima tells Vanity Fair contributing editor Sarah Ellison.
“She also went to meet (his) family secretly to discuss the possibility of marriage.”
Hasnat Khan: The UK-based Pakistani doctor whom Diana wanted to marry and settle down in Pakistan.
Jemima says she tried to prevail upon Hasnat’s family, including his mother, to let the two marry, but her efforts bore no fruit as his mother was dead opposed to her son’s marriage to a white woman.
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“For a son to marry an English girl is every conservative Pashtun mother’s worst nightmare. You send your son to be educated in England and he comes back with an English bride. It’s something they dread,’’ according to Jemima.
Diana had reportedly Hasnat Khan that she wanted to have a daughter with him, but the relationship fell apart as he was not interested in the marriage because of opposition from his family in Pakistan.
After that Diana met Dodi Al-Fayed, the son of Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed.
Diana’s friend Rosa tells Vanity Fair that Diana entered into a relationship with Dodi to make Hasnat jealous.
Shedding light on his relationship with Diana, Hasnat Khan had revealed during the Lord Stevens inquiry into Diana’s death, “I told her that the only way I could see us having a vaguely normal life together would be if we went to Pakistan, as the press doesn’t bother you there.”
Their relationship is the plot of an upcoming film on Diana. Hasnat has refused to cooperate with film-makers.
