Diana, Princess of Wales was ‘madly in love’ with a Pakistani heart surgeon named Hasnat Ahmad Khan was born on 1 April 1958, in Jhelum, a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Hasnat Khan is a distant cousin of Imran Khan. He is the eldest of four siblings, and was living in Lahore, with father Rashid Khan and mother Naheed Khan, before going abroad for job, where he worked in Sydney, until 1991 before moving to London where he worked at the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Diana, met Hasnat for the first time in September 1995 at the London’s Royal Brompton Hospital, while she visited the husband of a friend who was recovering from heart surgery.

She then returned to the hospital following that first visit almost every day for three weeks to pursue Khan. ‘I found my peace, Isn’t he drop-dead gorgeous?” she told her friend.

Couple remain in relationship from 1995 until 1997, Khan never liked the limelight and had no desire to live the high life. As one of the most high-profile women in the world, Princess Diana did her best to hide her secret relationship with Khan.

Diana later confessed to one of her confidants after they started dating. “He has given me all the things I need.” She even had a nickname for him, Natty and called him “Mr. Wonderful”.

She did whatever she could to win over his affections Diana completely immersed herself in his Pakistani culture. Her closet was filled with shalwar kameez, the colorful silk tunic and trousers that many Pakistani women traditionally wear.

Hasnat Khan has been described as a serious man. The lovebirds started dating well before Diana and Prince Charles’ divorce was finalized, but Khan’s morals as a Muslim made him draw the line with a married woman. They decided to only take things to the next level once her divorce became was finalised in 1996.

Though they were together for two years, Diana and Khan were largely unknown as a couple. They spent much of their time together in Kensington Palace. When going out with Khan, Diana sometimes went so far as to disguise herself with a black wig and dark sunglasses.

Diana and Khan

would often have sleepovers in his small overnight room at the hospital after one of his late-night shifts. Diana enjoyed cooking dinner for Khan on the weekends when the staff was off.

She’d often spend the day cleaning his one-bedroom apartment, from vacuuming and ironing his shirts to washing the dishes. Her friends tell stories about how she puttered around his small one-bedroom apartment and tidied up, doing the dishes and folding his laundry.

Khan’s fears about life with a global celebrity, and her struggle to bridge the chasm between them. Diana made a point to get to know Hasnat’s family, specifically seeking the approval of his mother, Naheed. But his mother never gave approval.

Jemima Goldsmith former wife of Imran Khan told, “Diana was madly in love with Hasnat Khan and wanted to marry him, even if that meant living in Pakistan, and that’s one of the reasons why we became friends.”

She went on, “She wanted to know how hard it had been for me to adapt to life in Pakistan.” Diana turned to Jemima for advice in reference to the latter’s own marriage with a Pakistani man, which made her move to Pakistan.

She made numerous trips to Pakistan to learn about his heritage and roots and considered converting to Islam for Khan. Princess Diana’s friends have called him the true love of her life.

She was frustration that Hasnat wasn’t agreeing to marry her, or even make their relationship public, the princess ended the relationship in June 1997.

Hasnat’s most significant disclosures came in 2008, when the British inquest looking into Diana’s death required his testimony, and even then Hasnat elected to stay in Pakistan and instead offered the inquest his responses from his official interview with the British police, in 2004, as their own investigation got under way.

Khan has admitted that their relationship never would have worked long term even though they were in love. Ultimately, he and Princess Diana were just too different, and Khan’s family never would have approved of the union. “She is from Venus and I am from Mars. If it ever happened, it would be like a marriage from two different planets.”

In 2006, Khan wed 28 years old Hadia Sher Ali in an arranged marriage with a “lavish ceremony” in Pakistan. Just 18 months later, the couple split.

Now Khan is currently listed as a consultant cardiac surgeon at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals in England.