Jemima Khan reveals Princess Diana's plans to move to Pakistan to 'marry Hasnat Khan'
PRINCESS Diana had plans to move to Pakistan after falling "madly in love" with Hasnat Khan, Jemima Khan has revealed in the latest issue of Vanity Fair.
The model - who converted to Islam and married Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan in 1995 - opened up about her friendship with the late Princess for the article, titled The Grandmother Prince George Never knew, and confessed that she was keen to know how she had adapted to life in the country.
"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 told the magazine.
"She wanted to know how hard it had been for me to adapt to life in Pakistan.
The model went on to reveal that Diana had also gone to meet his family secretly to discuss the possibility of marriage, however things didn't go as planned, according to Khan.
"[For a] son to marry an English girl is every conservatives 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."
Diana dated the heart surgeon from 1995-1997 and much of forthcoming film Diana, a biopic of the Princess' life, focuses on their relationship.
And while Diana's friend Rosa Monckton says that Hasnat was the one who initiated their break-up, others have revealed it was because he refused to marry her.
“He hated the thought of being in the glare of publicity for the rest of his life," said Jemima.
And in his official interview after Diana's death, he admitted that he had told her "the only way I could see us having a vaguely normal life together would be if we went to Pakistan, as the press don't bother you there."
Rosa also revealed that she was adamant that Diana's relationship with Dodi Al Fayed was simply to make Hasnat jealous.
Diana's relationship with Hasnat is at the centre of the upcoming film Diana, starring Naomi Watts in the title role.
Despite this fact, Vanity Fair reveals Hasnat refused to cooperate with filmmakers, remaining very much the man Diana once described to a friend as "the one person who will never sell me out."
The September issue of Vanity Fair will be available on newsstands in New York and LA on August 1 and nationally on the iPad, Nook, and Kindle on August 6.