The Men of Princess Diana’s Life — Public and Private Relationships Revealed

Princess Diana lived much of her private life in full public view, which means the men who mattered to her were rarely secrets for long. From a marriage that began with global celebration and ended in very public collapse, to relationships she kept guarded and others the tabloids exposed before she was ready, Diana navigated love in perhaps the most scrutinised circumstances of the twentieth century. She was a young woman thrust into a role that left little room for authentic personal connection, and yet she sought it out at every stage of her life. Understanding the men who shaped her — through love, disappointment, companionship, and in at least one case, genuine heartbreak — reveals a more complete picture of who she was beyond the titles and the photographs. Here is a clear-eyed look at the key figures in Diana’s personal life.

1. Prince Charles — The Marriage That Defined and Broke Her

Prince Charles and Diana Spencer were married on July 29, 1981. The world watched it as a fairy tale. Diana later described it as far from one. She was nineteen when she married a man twelve years her senior, and she has said in recorded conversations that she felt isolated almost immediately. Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles never truly ended, and Diana knew it. Their marriage produced two sons and enormous public goodwill before formally dissolving in 1996.

2. James Hewitt — The Affair She Confirmed

Captain James Hewitt was a British cavalry officer who met Diana in 1986. Their relationship lasted several years and Diana confirmed it herself in the 1995 BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, saying she adored Hewitt and had been in love with him. The relationship ended around 1991, and Hewitt later sold his story to the press, a decision Diana regarded as a profound betrayal.

3. James Gilbey — The Squidgygate Tapes

James Gilbey was a car salesman and longtime friend of Diana’s. In 1992, a recorded phone conversation between the two was leaked to the press — later known as the Squidgygate scandal. The affectionate and at times intimate nature of the call caused enormous controversy. Diana never confirmed a romantic relationship with Gilbey, but the tapes suggested a deep emotional closeness that went beyond friendship.

4. Oliver Hoare — The Phone Call Controversy

Oliver Hoare was an art dealer and close family friend who became one of Diana’s confidants in the early 1990s. Their friendship grew intense enough that Diana was later accused of making numerous silent phone calls to his home number. His wife reported the calls to police. Diana denied making them, though the episode caused significant damage to her reputation at the time.

5. Will Carling — Brief Speculation

England rugby captain Will Carling was linked to Diana in 1995. His then-wife Julia Carling publicly suggested that Diana had an inappropriate relationship with her husband, a claim that briefly dominated tabloid coverage. The exact nature of Diana and Carling’s connection was never definitively established, though both denied an affair.

6. Hasnat Khan — The One She Called “Mr Wonderful”

Many people who knew Diana have described Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan as the most significant love of her final years. They met in 1995 when Diana visited a friend in hospital and became deeply interested in Khan’s work. Their relationship was quiet, private, and lasted nearly two years. Khan has said he ended things because the press attention was unmanageable for a man who valued his privacy intensely. Diana reportedly called him the love of her life.

7. Dodi Fayed — The Final Relationship

Dodi Fayed was the son of Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of Harrods. Diana and Dodi began spending time together in the summer of 1997 aboard the Fayed family yacht. Their relationship was new — barely weeks old — when they died together in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris on August 31, 1997. Mohamed Al Fayed has long claimed the two were engaged and that Diana was pregnant, claims that have never been substantiated by evidence.

8. Barry Mannakee — The Bodyguard

Barry Mannakee served as one of Diana’s personal protection officers in the mid-1980s. Diana later described feeling very close to him and suggested in private conversations that she had romantic feelings for him. Mannakee was removed from his post, reportedly over concerns about the nature of his relationship with Diana, and died in a motorcycle accident in 1987. Diana called his death the biggest blow of her life.

9. Jonathon Dimbleby — The Author Who Got Charles’s Side

While not a personal relationship of Diana’s, Jonathon Dimbleby’s authorised biography of Prince Charles, published in 1994, had a profound effect on Diana. Charles confirmed his relationship with Camilla in a televised interview to promote the book. For Diana, this was public confirmation of what she had endured privately for years.

10. Richard Kay — The Trusted Journalist

Richard Kay of the Daily Mail became one of Diana’s closest confidants in her final years. Theirs was not a romantic relationship but an important emotional one — she trusted him with information and feelings she shared with very few others. He was reportedly one of the last people she spoke to on the phone before the Paris crash.

FAQs

Did Princess Diana ever remarry or plan to? Diana did not remarry after her divorce from Charles in 1996. She was linked to several men in the final years of her life, but no remarriage took place before her death in 1997.

Was Diana really in love with Hasnat Khan? Multiple people close to Diana have confirmed that she considered Hasnat Khan the great love of her later life. His name came up repeatedly in testimony during the public inquiry into her death.

What was the Panorama interview and why was it significant? The 1995 BBC Panorama interview was Diana’s direct response to years of royal silence. She discussed Charles’s relationship with Camilla, her own struggles with mental health, and confirmed her relationship with James Hewitt. It was watched by over 22 million people in the UK alone.

Was there ever an official investigation into Diana’s death? Yes. The British inquiry, Operation Paget, concluded in 2006 that Diana and Dodi died as a result of grossly negligent driving by Henri Paul, who was intoxicated at the time. A separate inquest jury in 2008 returned a verdict of unlawful killing due to grossly negligent driving by Henri Paul and the pursuing vehicles.