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Princess Diana passed away more than two decades ago but there are still so many questions today about her death and the man she was dating at the time.

There have been claims over the years that her relationship with Dodi Fayed was nothing more than a summer fling because she was trying to make her ex-lover jealous. Others though believe that she and Fayed would have eventually walked down the aisle if they hadn’t gotten in that horrific crash.

Diana Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed
Diana Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed | PA Images via Getty Images

So was the princess going to marry the wealthy playboy or was she hoping to win back someone else’s heart? Here’s more on that and surprising thing that was discovered after their tragic deaths in 1997.

The other man Diana loved

Although Diana will forever be linked to Fayed, there is another man who she referred to as the “love of her life.” In fact, some believe the only reason she was even in a relationship with Fayed was to get the attention of her ex, a Pakistani heart surgeon named Hasnat Khan.

The princess and Khan had a two-year affair that began in 1995 and by all accounts, she had fallen hard for the doctor who she nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful.”

Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan
Pakistani surgeon Hasnat Khan | Stan Karczmarz/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

Khan was reportedly head over heels for her as well but chose to break things off because he didn’t want to be in the spotlight and worried that their romance would be leaked to the press. He ended their relationship just a few months before her death.

Diana was with Fayed to make Khan jealous?

After Khan, the princess moved on with Fayed but many have claimed that was only to make the heart surgeon jealous.

In her book, Diana in Search of Herself, author Sally Bedell Smith wrote that Diana’s friends said the photographs of her on Fayed’s family’s yacht were a message “meant for one reader, Hasnat Khan.”

Princess Diana
Princess Diana | Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images

The princess’ former butler, Paul Burrell, agreed and said that he believes she was still in love with Khan and had no intentions of getting serious with Fayed.

“This was only a 30-day relationship and the princess had just finished a long relationship with someone she cared deeply about,” Burrell explained. “She had met someone who was very caring and attentive and the Princess was enjoying it but marriage was never mentioned and certainly not engagement.”

Fayed bought Diana a ring

Fayed’s father, Mohammed Fayed, however, has always insisted that his son and the princess did plan to marry but that the British royal family plotted and had her killed so she would not wed an Egyptian Muslim.

There is evidence that Fayed was going to ask for the princess’s hand in marriage.

Author Martyn Gregory noted that Fayed was going to propose to Diana the night of the crash and that he had been shopping for a ring at Repossi Jewelers. A ring bearing the inscription “Dis-moi Oui” (Tell me Yes) was recovered in his flat after their deaths as well as a receipt dated Aug. 30, 1997, the day of the crash, for a “bague de fiançaille” (engagement ring).

Read more: Was Prince William Angry With His Mother, Princess Diana, After Her Tell-All Interview?

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