Without question, Princess Diana was one of the most influential people of the 20th Century. While her celebrity was thrust upon her, and she initially resisted it and the tradition associated with position as the wife of the heir to the throne, she learned to leverage that celebrity to have a massive impact on the world that surrounded her. She was a dreamer, a humanitarian and an awesome mother. For those who admired Diana, the recent documentary of her life, and chronicling of her death, introduced some facts about Princess Diana to the world that most people were unaware of.
We were able to learn a lot about the Princess, her passions, dislikes and the threat she represented to the throne. Following are five things we learned from the documentary about Princess Diana.
1. The Man that Most Called the “Love of Her Life” Was Not Dodi Al Fayed
While everyone has become well acquainted with the name of Dodi Al Fayed, we learned that while Dodi definitely had Diana’s attention, he may not have been the true love of her life. What most people were unaware of is the fact that Princess Diana engaged in a relationship with a doctor from Pakistan named Hasnat Khan. Most people would classify this relationship as an on again, off again relationship, but according to those close to Princess Diana, she was absolutely enamored by Khan. She thought he was unbelievably handsome, and he was crazy about her. Unfortunately, the doctor cited their cultural polarities, and his disdain for being in the spotlight of the media, as being the reason the relationship could not work.
2. The Meeting Between Her And Dodi Al Fayed Almost Never Happened
At the time that Dodi came along, Diana was actually considering a relationship with Muhammed Al Fayed, Dodi’s father, and Gulu Lalvani, an Italian businessman who was at least 20 years older than her. While Lalvani insists that the relationship with Diana was very serious, those close to her say that he took her on a couple of dates, but it was never as serious as he leads people to believe. It was when she accepted an invitation to spend the summer with the elder Al Fayed, she met Dodi.
3. While She Loathed the Press, She Used it to Her Advantage
Princess Diana was extremely savvy, and though she had a disdain for the Press, she found ways to leverage the attention and exposure the press provided her to increase her influence and mobility around the world. There are insiders that suggest that there were times when Diana tipped off the press in order to get back at both, Prince Charles and Khan.
4. Diana’s Relationship with her Mother Was Strained
While many people are aware that Diana was furious with her mother for giving an interview about her divorce from Prince Charles, it became apparent during the documentary that the relationship with her mother was strained long before then. This difficulty can be traced back to the fact that when Diana was a young child, her mother left her father in order to be with someone else.
5. Her Dance with John Travolta Was Forced Upon Her
While the photo of Diana dancing with actor, John Travolta, it is reported that Diana preferred to dance with Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was her hero. Paul Burnell, Diana’s butler, has gone on record confirming this. The fact that President Reagan, and the First Lady, Nancy Reagan had set up the dance with Travolta sort of forced her to go with it out of respect.
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