Princess Diana’s seven lovers who helped her through breakdown of marriage to Prince Charles
PRINCESS Diana may have only been married once, but she had a string of men falling at her feet.
Tales of affairs dogged her royal marriage, with a number of men capturing her attention and possibly her heart.
Princess Diana tied the knot with Prince Charles in a lavish wedding in front of the world on July 29, 1981 – but the couple quickly started seeing other people.
Their relationship finally ended in 1996 and Diana notoriously stated that there were “three people in the marriage” when it came to Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles.
Princess Diana remained one of the nation’s most beloved royals and it wasn’t just the public who adored her.
Here we look back at the men who allegedly wooed the “People’s Princess”, during and after her high-profile marriage…
Barry Albert Mannakee - 1985
Princess Diana is said to first have had a wandering eye with her bodyguard and confidant, Barry Mannakee, back in the Eighties.
He worked as a police officer with the Royal Protection Squad before being assigned to Princess Diana as a bodyguard in 1985.
Palace rumours of their relationship are said to have led to his dismissal from the role a year later and Princess Diana even suspected foul play when he died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1987.
In a video obtained by NBC, she said: "I was only happy when he was around. I think he was bumped off ... We'll never know."
The princess never mentioned Mannakee by name in the secret tapes when she spoke of a man she was in love with but it was assumed she was referring to him.
But Diana said in the tapes she was "deeply in love" with the unidentified security guard and was "quite happy to give all this up and to just go off and live with him".
James Hewitt - 1986 – 1992
A former Household Cavalry officer and tank commander, dashing James began a five-year affair with Diana in 1986 after they met at a cocktail party.
Princess Diana later confessed to the romantic tryst in a BBC Panorama programme in 1995.
The affair happened at the time Prince Charles was widely reported to have been cheating on Diana with his current wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
But the lovebirds were forced apart when Hewitt was deployed to serve in the Gulf War, before splitting permanently when their infidelity was exposed in the media.
Diana and Prince Charles separated in 1992, divorcing four years later.
Her former protection officer and confidante, Ken Wharfe, wrote about the affair in his book Diana: Closely Guarded Secret.
He said: “Hewitt, a natural womaniser, gave her the attention and affection she relished, and then the passion she yearned for.
“The pair usually met at an old cottage in Devon belonging to Shirley, Hewitt’s mother, where the creaking bedroom floorboards told the story more loudly than any confession.”
He told the world about it when he co-operated on a book about the princess and she was said to have been heartbroken.
She later revealed: “I was in love with him. But I was very let down.”
James Gilbey - 1989
Heir to a gin fortune, James Gilbey and Diana had been friends since childhood.
She always denied they had an affair and the former Lotus car executive has never spoken about it.
But he claimed a place in royal history as the person on the other end of the line during the “Squidgygate” phone call in 1989.
He called the Princess “Squidge” or “Squidgy” 53 times and spoke of wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.
In the same call, Princess Diana was said to have complained Charles “makes my life real, real torture”.
Oliver Hoare – 1992 to 1994
Diana embarked on an affair with suave old Etonian art dealer Oliver Hoare, who was 16 years older than her, in the early nineties.
Princess Diana’s view of Oliver quickly turned from admiration to infatuation, and she was said to have rang his Chelsea home up to 300 times - but grew fed up of his refusal to leave his wife.
Will Carling - 1995
England rugby star Will Carling met Diana during an early-morning workout at London’s Chelsea Harbour Club in 1995.
She admired him and asked for private training sessions and the pair allegedly had two trysts, although he has denied this was the case.
Their relationship was blamed for the end of his marriage to TV host Julia Carling the same year.
Will had been newly married when he met Diana and his then wife Julia is said to have publicly warned the princess off.
Now, Will has two children with his second wife Lisa and runs a corporate hospitality company.
Hasnat Khan – 1995 to 1997
Smitten Diana nicknamed surgeon Hasnat Khan “Mr Wonderful” and their two-year love affair began in 1995.
It ended just months before Diana’s death in August 1997 because Khan feared he could never have a normal family life if they married.
The heart surgeon and Diana had reportedly even considered moving to his native Pakistan together before things ended.
According to her butler Paul Burrell, she begged her “soulmate” Hasnat to marry her and even asked Burrell to approach a priest to organise it.
Hasnat later said: “After she died things were difficult.”
More recently he’s worked as a consultant in cardiothoracic surgery at Basildon University Hospital, Essex.
Dodi Al Fayed – 1997
The eldest son of former Harrods owner and billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi was a Playboy linked to a string of famous women, including Winona Ryder and Nancy Sinatra.
He first met Princess Diana at a 1986 polo match in Windsor while she was still married to Prince Charles, although nothing came from the exchange.
In the summer of 1997, Dodi invited Diana, William and Harry to spend time on his yacht in the south of France.
She later returned to the ship in August without her sons and a photo of the pair kissing made headlines around the world.
The lovers spent time in the South of France and Sardinia before flying to Paris.
On August 31, 1997, after a dinner at Mohamed Al Fayed's Ritz hotel in Paris, the pair were hounded by French paparazzi on motorbikes.
As they drove through the Pont de l'Alma tunnel, they crashed into a pillar and died at the scene.
How Princess Diana smuggled lover Oliver Hoare into Kensington Palace in the boot of her car.
We recently shared breathtaking photos of Princess Diana’s grave site at childhood home on funeral anniversary.
Prince Charles broke Princess Diana’s heart with this comment… and it’s what caused their marriage to go ‘down the drain’.