We all know that the marriage that followed Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ dream
wedding in 1981 was nothing like a fairytale. Their unhappy union was riddled with many
troubles and infidelity. The pair separated in 1992 and eventually divorced in 1996, one
year before the princess’s tragic death. While married to Diana, the Prince of Wales
carried on an affair with his former flame and now-wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, who was
also married at the time. This was something Diana knew about for a long time and brought
up in her infamous Panorama interview when she said, “Well, there were three of us
in this marriage so it was a bit crowded.” The princess admitted that she too began seeing
other people while married to Charles. Diana had been linked to several men when
her marriage to Charles had crumbled. Some tabloids reported that she had more than seven
lovers plus a fling with singer Bryan Adams and a one-night stand with JFK Jr. While there’s
no evidence of that we do know of three men who stole the princess’ heart.
James Hewitt. Diana and the former Household Cavalry officer
carried on an affair for five years. Something she confirmed in the 1995 Panorama interview.
The affair was said to have happened at the time when Prince Charles was cheating on her
with Camilla. Hewitt and the princess split up after he was deployed to serve in the Gulf
War and the media found out what was going on.
Diana’s former protection officer and confidante, Ken Wharfe, wrote about the affair in his
book Diana: Closely Guarded Secret. “Hewitt, a natural womanizer, gave her the attention
and affection she relished, and then the passion she yearned for,” Wharfe claimed. “The
pair usually met at an old cottage in Devon belonging to Shirley, Hewitt’s mother, where
the creaking bedroom floorboards told the story more loudly than any confession.”
Diana later revealed that she “was in love” with Hewitt “but was very let down.” Many
gossip sites reported that he is Prince Harry’s actual father, however, Hewitt has always
maintained that their relationship did not begin until 1986 after the prince he was born.
Hasnat Khan. Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan is another
man who Diana fell for. In fact, she referred to him as the “love of her life” and gave
him the “Mr. Wonderful.” The pair had a two-year affair that began
in 1995. They were reportedly head over heels for each other and even considered marriage
but he chose to end their relationship because he worried it could be leaked to the press.
Khan broke things off just a few months before she died.
Over the years, he has never sought money or offered intimate details about his affair
with the princess.
Dodi Fayed. Finally, there was the man Diana will forever
be linked to Dodi Fayed. He was the eldest son of former Harrods store owner and billionaire
Mohamed Al Fayed. Dodi was said to be a playboy most of his life but fell hard for the princess.
They first met at a polo match in 1986 while she was still married to Prince Charles, although
nothing came from the exchange. Fast forward to 1997 and she accepted an invitation to
spend time on his family’s yacht in the South of France with William and Harry. Following
that holiday, she accepted another offer and returned to the ship without her sons. It
was then that the paparazzi snapped a photo of them kissing, which made headlines around
the globe. On August 31, 1997, after a dinner at Mohamed
Al Fayed’s Ritz hotel in Paris, the pair were hounded by French photographers on motorbikes
as they drove through the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. The car they were traveling in ended
up crashing into a pillar. Fayed was killed instantly but Diana was still
alive and suffering from multiple injuries including a severed pulmonary vein. She was
transported to the La Pitie Salpetriere Hospital where she was pronounced dead several hours
later.