Princess Diana was a strong and independent woman who chose a partner who made her feel good about herself but it was not meant to be.
Princess Diana was a beloved public figure but in her personal life, she traversed through deep pain multiple times. The Princess of Wales had loved deeply and also been betrayed and rejected by two people.
Her marriage to Prince Charles had been on the rocks for years before they divorced in 1996. They had separated in 1992. Losing the man who she thought would never divorce her and then falling deeply in love with Dr. Hasnat Khan, who also left her, are two of the biggest heartbreaks she faced.
Charles was seeing someone else even when he was married to Diana. After their separation, Diana fell for the junior surgeon Khan, who grew up away from the public eye. He didn't want public scrutiny or interference in his life. He decided he wasn't ready for what it meant to be Princess Diana's partner.
Eventually, Diana met Dodi Al Fayed, the son of the Egyptian tycoon, Mohamed Al Fayed, who owned Harrod's, as per CheatSheet.
The senior Al Fayed had invited Diana and her two children, Princes William and Harry, to holiday with his family aboard his yacht in the South of France in 1997. She met his son during that time and they started dating. It seemed that the relationship was going strong and only after their death in Paris the same year, it was found that they were happy but marriage may not have been on the cards. However, there are others, who were close to the late princess who believe that she would have married him.
Diana had found happiness with Dodi and letters she wrote to him proved that. Just weeks before the crash, she had written to him showing him gratitude for the wonderful summer she had had, as per Mirror UK.
In a letter dated August 6, 1997, she wrote, "Darling Dodi, Heaven knows where on earth I begin to thank you for the most magical six days on the ocean waves. It is a bit of an Oh my God situation. I adored it all and every possible minute was full of laughter and happiness, and that combination is a serious treat. This comes with all the love in the world and, as always, a million heartfelt thanks for bringing such joy into this particular chick's life, from Diana xx."
The late princess had felt deeply about him and gave him a gift that was very close to her heart. She gave him a pair of cuff links that had belonged to her father and sent him that along with a letter.
"Darling Dodi, These cufflinks were the very last gift that I received from the man I loved most in the world, my father. They are given to you as I know how much joy it would give him to know they were in such safe and special hands. Fondest love, from Diana," she wrote.
The couple died less than a month after she gave him this precious gift. Having Dodi in her life wanted her to change how she lived and as per Richard Kay, a friend who covered the Royals for the Daily Mail, she called him on August 30, 1997, as per The Washington Post.
He later wrote, "She had decided to radically change her life. She was going to complete her obligations to her charities and then, around November, would completely withdraw from her formal public life."
Kay had a hunch even though she didn't tell him why she was going to make this change. "They [Dodi and Diana] were, to use an old but priceless cliche, blissfully happy. I cannot say for certain that they would have married, but in my view it was likely," he wrote, as per the newspaper.
Dodi reportedly wanted to propose and they had picked the ring together a week before the fateful night, August 31, 1997, that killed them. They had spent that last day together, traveling to Paris from their offshore vacation, and had plans that never were completed. Dodi died in the car after the crash and Diana, later, at the hospital after being rescued from the wreckage at the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
References:
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-surprising-thing-princess-diana-admitted-about-her-relationship-with-dodi-fayed.html/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/diana-dodi-fayeds-secret-love-13170576
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/08/30/dianas-last-day-dodis-yacht-a-ritz-suite-a-diamond-ring-and-relentless-photographers/
