Courting a princess: the loves of Diana
When her marriage fell apart, the royal rebel was linked with a string of men. As the 20th anniversary of her death approaches, Chrissie Russell asks where are they now?
Explosive revelations in previously unseen tapes of Princess Diana recently exposed details of an affair she’d had with her bodyguard just four years after marrying Charles. But who were the other men in the Princess’s life… and where are they now?
WHO? Prince Charles RELATIONSHIP: Married 1981 1996. The newly WHAT HAPPENED? released describing footageher weddingsaw Diana day as “the worst a fairytaleday of romance,my life”. we Far now from know being Charles resumed his affair with Camilla mere years after marrying while Di went on to have her own string of suitors before finally separating in 1993.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Dad to his two sons to Diana, Harry (32) and William (35), Charles eventually married his long-time love, Camilla Parker Bowles, in a civil ceremony in 2005. WHO? Sergeant Barry Mannakee RELATIONSHIP: Rumoured affair 1985 - 1986.
WHAT HAPPENED? On the eve of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s wedding, a senior member of Charles’ staff reportedly discovered Di and her married protection officer in a “compromising position”. Mannakee was promptly dispatched to other diplomatic duties. Di (without naming him) described the dad-of-two as “the greatest fellow I ever had” but insisted the relationship had not been sexual.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Died in an accident on the A11 in Essex in 1987, aged 39, eight months after being relieved of his duties as royal protection officer. In the Diana tapes, Di revealed she believed he’d been “bumped off”. WHO? James Hewitt RELATIONSHIP: Affair from 1986 to 1990.
WHAT HAPPENED? In 1995, Diana confessed she’d been unfaithful with James Hewitt, who she “adored”. They met in the summer of 1986 (two years after Prince Harry was born) at a cocktail party where the polo-loving Hewitt vowed to cure the princess’s fear of horses. A passionate affair of ‘love-nests’ and visits to Highgrove followed until Hewitt left to serve in the Gulf War.
WHERE IS HE NOW? The ex-cavalry soldier’s foray into hospitality — running the Polo House bar and restaurant in Marbella — ended in 2013. Now 59 and single, Hewitt suffered a near fatal heart-attack and stroke earlier this year, but is said to be “doing much better”. He lives in a two-bed flat with his elderly mother in Devon. WHO? David Waterhouse RELATIONSHIP: Rumoured affair in the late 1980s.
WHAT HAPPENED? According to Di’s biographer, Andrew Morton, the Princess was “smitten” with the household cavalry major but wasn’t sure if he loved her, or the inevitable limelight that came with being seen with her.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Director of the Household Cavalry Museum in London. WHO? Terence Stamp RELATIONSHIP: Alleged affair in the late 1980s. WHAT HAPPENED? In Morton’s book, Diana: In Pursuit of Love, it’s claimed the actor and princess embarked on a brief romance — he made risotto while she griped about adulterous Charles — after meeting at the London premier of Wall
Street in 1989. WHERE IS HE NOW? Still acting, Stamp (79) married briefly in the 1990s, then divorced. WHO? James Gilbey RELATIONSHIP: Alleged affair 1989 - 1990. WHAT HAPPENED? Best known for ‘Squidgygate’, the upmarket car salesman was secretly recorded in intimate conversation with the Princess, calling her “darling” (53 times) and “squidgy” (14 times) during a New Year’s Eve phone call in 1989. WHERE IS HE NOW? Now 60, Gilbey married three years ago and is a step-dad to five. Runs a property company in London. WHO? Oliver Hoare RELATIONSHIP: Affair 1990 - 1994.
WHAT HAPPENED? The married art dealer (a pal of Prince Charles) began an affair with the younger princess after meeting her in the - Chelsea Harbour Gym. She was infatuated, gushing to pals that she “daydreamed of living in Italy with the handsome Hoare” and he was infamously discovered by her protection officer “semi-naked behind a potted bay tree in Kensington Palace corridor, smoking a cigar”. The affair ended when Hoare’s heiress wife, Diane, threatened to end their marriage. Diana then plagued his house with late-night, silent nuisance calls.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Now 72, still dealing art and still married to his wife. WHO? Teddy Forstmann RELATIONSHIP: Alleged affair 1994 1995. WHAT HAPPENED? The handsome American billionaire met Diana at a London dinner party in July 1994 and went on to send her flowers every week for three years. They holidayed in Martha’s Vineyard and he even proposed. In 1997, at Diana’s request, Forstmann found her a holiday home in Long Island but it was vetoed by British security. He always believed if she’d spent the summer there — instead of with the Fayeds — she’d still be alive.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Died, aged 71, in November 2011 from complications from brain cancer. WHO? Will Carling RELATIONSHIP: Rumoured affair in 1995. WHAT HAPPENED? Met the newly married English rugby ace at the Harbour Club Gym in Chelsea. Pal Gary Lineker reportedly warned him “that woman is trouble” but Carling developed a “close friendship” with the Princess that was instrumental in ending his brief marriage. WHERE IS HE NOW? Now 51, he’s a married dad-of-three, running a corporate hospitality company. WHO? JFK junior RELATIONSHIP: Alleged one night stand in 1995. WHAT HAPPENED? According to Di’s confidante, Simone Simmons, Diana rated JFK Jnr as “10 out of 10” for their night of “pure lust” in a New York Hotel. The veracity of this is dubious, but the pair definitely met in New York in the 90s when JFK wanted the Princess to pose for a magazine. WHERE IS HE NOW? Died aged 38 in a plane crash in September 1999. WHO? Bryan Adams RELATIONSHIP: Alleged affair in 1996. WHAT HAPPENED? After meeting at a concert in 1989, the Canadian rocker later wrote a song about Diana hailing her as “the queen of all my dreams”. In 2003, Adams’ ex-girlfriend of 12 years, Cecile Thomsen, claimed he’d cheated on her with the princess.
WHERE IS HE NOW? Married and a dad-of-two, living in a mansion in Chelsea still making music and involved in humanitarian causes. He dismissed Thomsen’s claims as “conjecture and supposition”. WHO? Hasnat Khan
RELATIONSHIP: A two-year relationship between 1995 and 1997.
WHAT HAPPENED? They met in September 1995 when Khan, a heart surgeon, had been operating on someone known to the princess. Diana loved the normalcy Khan’s life represented — meeting in pubs and jazz clubs. But Khan hated the limelight Di craved and the affair ended in July 1997 when she was linked to Dodi Fayed (a relationship many claim was only orchestrated to make Khan jealous).
WHERE IS HE NOW? He married in 2008 but it ended 18 months later. Now 58 and listed as a consultant cardiac surgeon at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals, he’s believed to be single. WHO? Dodi Fayed RELATIONSHIP: Romance 1997. WHAT HAPPENED? After meeting at various parties in late 1996, Mohamed al-Fayed invited his son — a 42-year-old playboy and sometime film producer — and Diana on to his yacht in the Med and romance blossomed. In private letters, she thanked him for “bringing such joy into this particular chick’s life” and, when Harry and William went to Highgrove for the summer of 97, Diana rejoined Dodi in Sardinia and Paris. WHERE IS HE NOW? Died in Paris in the car crash that also killed Diana in the early hours of August 31, 1997.