Princess Diana reportedly began planning a different future as life with Charles became ‘intolerable,’ brother claims

Princess Diana reportedly held onto hopes of building a new life in South Africa, even going as far as to scout for medical positions for her partner, Dr. Hasnat Khan. In a new memoir titled Swan Song: My Sister, Diana, her brother Charles Spencer claims that his sister viewed the country as a potential sanctuary from the intense pressure she faced in England. By March 1997, life for the Princess had become, as her brother puts it, intolerable.

As reported by Page Six, the plan involved moving to Cape Town, where Diana hoped Dr. Khan, a British-Pakistani cardiothoracic surgeon, could secure a job at the Groote Schuur Hospital. This facility was historically significant as the site where Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant. 

Diana reportedly reached out to Dr. Barnard to see if he could help facilitate a professional opportunity for her partner. Spencer notes in the book that his sister was prone to naive yet impossible dreams, yet she remained hopeful that the other side of the world could offer them a sense of normalcy.

He claims Diana asked her butler to find a priest 

Diana and Khan had been in a secret relationship for two years, beginning after they met in 1995 at the Royal Brompton hospital. The secrecy required to maintain the romance was extreme. On one occasion, Diana wore a black wig to visit a jazz club, and Khan was once even smuggled into Kensington Palace in the trunk of a car. 

While Diana was clearly serious about the relationship, even asking her butler to find a priest for a potential marriage, the reality was much more complicated. Khan later stated during a 2008 inquest that he feared married life with the world’s most famous woman would have been hell, as he would never be able to live a normal life.

Spencer describes his sister as a mercurial figure who was deeply unhappy during that final period of her life. He recalls how she spent her time at his home in Cape Town with her mobile in her hand, constantly waiting for a call from Khan that rarely came. While she had previously looked for rural getaways in earlier relationships, this move to South Africa represented a desperate search for asylum.

The memoir also touches on the strained relationship between Spencer and King Charles. Spencer claims that after Diana died, he spoke to the King on the phone, noting that the King sounded giddily elated, almost like a lottery winner.

He further alleges that during a discussion about the funeral arrangements for Diana, the King hissed down the phone that she’ll be forgotten soon. Buckingham Palace has since issued a statement suggesting that the pain of grief can cloud memory, but Spencer stands by his recollection, insisting those were exactly the words used.