Princess Diana spent much of her public life reaching out to people who were sick, vulnerable or overlooked. One of her visits to a London hospital, however, would lead to a deeply personal chapter in her life.
In September 1995, Diana visited the Royal Brompton Hospital to see Joe Toffolo, the husband of her friend Oonagh. Toffolo was recovering from heart surgery, and the surgeon caring for him was Dr. Hasnat Khan. Their first meeting was brief. Before long, though, Diana was returning to the hospital regularly—and a friendship between the princess and the heart surgeon began to grow.
A connection kept out of the spotlight
Khan was a British-Pakistani surgeon whose life revolved around his work. Diana, by contrast, was one of the most photographed women in the world. Yet people who knew them described a relationship that offered her something she longed for: a chance to be treated like a person rather than a public figure.
The romance developed quietly. Diana reportedly left messages for Khan at the hospital under the name “Dr. Armani,” and they found discreet ways to spend time together. One widely reported story says she wore a dark wig to visit the Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott’s. On another occasion, Khan reportedly hid in the boot of a car to enter Kensington Palace without attracting attention.
There were lighter moments, too. Diana and Khan once visited a pub near Harefield Hospital called the Prince of Wales. The name amused her, given her own title. Stories like these offered glimpses of a relationship shaped by ordinary outings—and by the constant effort to stay ahead of photographers and reporters.
Talk of a future together
As their relationship deepened, Diana reportedly introduced Khan to Princes William and Harry. Her former butler, Paul Burrell, later told the inquest into Diana’s death that she had considered marrying Khan and asked him to enquire about arranging a private ceremony. Khan, however, later described the idea as unrealistic. He said he worried about the consequences of marrying someone whose life attracted such intense public attention.
(Photo by Stan Karczmarz/Sygma via Getty Images)
The possibility of moving abroad was also discussed. Pakistan was one option, while other countries were considered as well. But the central difficulty remained: Diana wanted a future that could be acknowledged, while Khan feared that public scrutiny would overwhelm his private life and interfere with his work as a surgeon.
The relationship ended in 1997, after roughly two years together. Accounts of the final weeks differ in their details, but Khan’s statement to the inquest described a final conversation in which Diana told him their relationship was over. The pressures around privacy, public attention and their different hopes for the future had proved difficult to overcome.
Diana’s death and Khan’s grief
A month later, on August 31, 1997, Diana died in a car crash in Paris. Dodi Fayed and the driver, Henri Paul, also died. Khan later said he learned about Diana’s relationship with Fayed only after it became public. In a 2008 interview reported by The Guardian, he spoke about how painful the years after Diana’s death had been.
Khan rarely discussed the relationship in detail. When he did speak about Diana, he remembered her as a person with strengths and flaws—not simply as a princess. His measured recollections stand in contrast to the sweeping headlines that have often surrounded their story.
Hasnat Khan’s life today
Khan’s life continued after Diana’s death. He married Hadia Sher Ali in 2006, but the marriage ended in divorce. More recently, he returned to Pakistan. In April 2026, Dawn reported that he had taken charge of Lahore’s Jinnah Institute of Cardiology after returning from England.
The story of Diana and Hasnat Khan remains compelling because it was both extraordinary and recognizably human. Their lives came from very different worlds, and they wanted different things from the future. For a time, they found closeness in private moments away from the cameras. Their romance ended before either could know what their life together might have become, leaving behind a poignant chapter in Diana’s story.