New Princess Diana documentary reveals a torn life
A new television special on Princess Diana has provided insight into the final months of the People’s Princess.
The Last 100 Days of Diana, which aired on Sunday night in the United States, was hosted by British journalist Martin Bashir, who interviewed Diana in her only extended interview in 1996.
The film chronicles Diana’s “first and last summer as a single woman” after her divorce from Prince Charles, painting an intimate portrait of a woman figuring out the chapter of her life, before her tragic death in a car accident on August 31, 1997.
Here are four startling revelations from the special:
1. She had an on-again, off-again relationship with Hasnat Khan, who friends called the “love of her life”.
Diana met Hasnat Khan, a surgeon of Pakistani descent who worked in London, in a hospital where Diana’s friend was being treated. According to the special, they had a shouting match in Hyde Park about their relationship with Diana giving him an ultimatum to go public or end the relationship entirely. During the official investigation into Diana's death, Khan said that she hid her relationship with Dodi Al Fayed from him.
2. She despised the media, but used it to her advantage sometimes.
Diana felt “hunted and haunted” by the media and was furious with friends and family who leaked to the press – including the interview her mother gave about her divorce from Prince Charles. “If anyone was to say anything, she felt that she should be saying it,” former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter said. But according to the special, Diana used the intense media scrutiny to her advantage to get back at Prince Charles and Khan. After Charles threw a birthday party for Camilla. Diana staged a photo op while on holiday and it’s believe she may have tipped off the paparazzi to get the blurry “kiss” shot with Dodi Al Fayed in Sardinia that hit every tabloid front page.
3. She had a difficult relationship with her mother.
Diana’s mother, Frances Shand-Kydd, left her father for another man so it was important for Diana that her marriage work. “She wanted what she never had, to have a home, h-o-m-e,” Devorik said After Diana’s divorce from Charles, her mother didn’t approve of her dating a Muslim man, causing further strain to their relationship.
4. She didn’t want to dance with John Travolta
You know that iconic photo of Diana and John Travolta dancing? According to Diana’s butler, Paul Burrell, Diana wanted to partner with dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, because he was her "hero”. But President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan had set up the opportunity to dance with Travolta, so Diana went along with it.