Adored by millions across the world, Diana’s reputation as the kind and caring People’s Princess has endured long after her tragic and untimely death 23 years ago.
WATCH: The Crown’s Princess Diana Casting
However, a fascinating new interview uncovers that beneath the surface, Diana struggled to find genuine love from the men around her.
Royals author Walter Oleksy exclusively tells New Idea that Diana’s problems with men began when she was a child.
“Her father didn’t love her (he’d wanted a boy), the prince didn’t love her, and she had affairs with [numerous] men, looking for the right man. Some of them gave her love, but most took advantage of her,” Walter claims.
Early rejection
While their marriage in 1981 was arguably doomed from the start, Walter alleges that Charles “only married [Diana] to have children”. When she failed to produce a daughter as their second heir, Charles made his disappointment clear.
“He didn’t want Harry, he wanted a girl, because he was afraid [two boys] would fight over [being] king,” he says.
“So it haunted her all her life, the fact that her father didn’t love her for that reason, and now her husband didn’t love her either. That is apparently why Diana loved Harry a little more than William, because she had been unwanted and so had he.”
Charles’ infidelity
In 1992, it was publicly revealed that Charles and his former girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles had been engaged in an affair for years.
However, Camilla wasn’t the first woman that Diana had to compete with for Charles’ affection. Walter claims that Charles began a decade-long relationship with married Australian socialite Dale Tryon after they met at a ball in London in 1972.
Walter alleges that while all three women knew about the others, they had no choice but to “tolerate” Charles’ behaviour, which had apparently been encouraged by his father, Prince Philip.
“He told his son, ‘Have a lot of affairs before you get married.’ That was his fatherly advice.”
Finding her purpose
Ultimately, it was Diana’s quest to help others in need that would prove to mend her broken heart. As the patron of more than 100 charities for a range of issues ranging from HIV/AIDS, cancer and leprosy to drug addiction and homelessness, Diana changed millions of lives around the world.
“She decided that she would find love in helping people,” Walter says.
The right man
Well aware that her love for Charles was unreciprocated, it’s been rumoured that Diana also sought out her own affairs, including ones with her bodyguard Barry Mannakee in 1985, cavalry officer and polo player James Hewitt in 1986 and her childhood friend James Gilbey in 1989.
However, it wasn’t until several years after she and Charles finally separated in 1992 that Diana found the right man.
“I think she wanted a different life, a different husband and more children,” Walter says. “Towards the end of her life she found a man who loved her for herself – Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart and lung doctor – that lasted from 1995 until two months before her death. They were deeply in love. They both wanted to marry and have children together.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Walter explains,
“He was a very private man and broke off their relationship because he feared that the media’s obsession with her would make [life] impossible for him. He didn’t want the limelight.”
Burned yet again, Diana dated wealthy Egyptian playboy Dodi Fayed, who was killed alongside her in 1997.
“She was not really in love with him, she only did it initially to make [Hasnat] jealous,” Walter says.
“Hasnat phoned Diana a few hours before [the accident], but she never received his call. He is believed to have wanted to suggest a reconciliation.”
For more, pick up the latest issue of New Idea Royals.
