6 Men Who Were Romantically Linked to Princess Diana

Diana carried on an affair with James behind Prince Charles's back in the late '80s. James was hired to teach Diana, William, and Harry horseback riding, but they broke things off when James was deployed to serve in the Gulf War and their affair was exposed to the media. Since then, rumors have swirled that he is Prince Harry's biological father, though he recently put an end to them, replying, "No, I'm not," when asked "Are you Harry's father?" "It sells papers," he said, adding, "It's worse for [Harry] probably, poor chap."

Diana and Charles first met in 1977 while he was dating her older sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale. After breaking things off with Sarah, Charles became interested in Diana and the two ended up getting engaged after only going on 12 dates. They wed five months later in a lavish ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and welcomed two children together, Prince William and Prince Harry. By late 1992, their marriage was a mess; Queen Elizabeth II actually ordered their divorce following their extramarital affairs and embarrassing leaked audio conversations. Their divorce was finalized in August 1996, and Diana gave up her right to be called "her royal highness" and instead was given the title Diana, Princess of Wales.

Barry served s Diana's bodyguard at Kensington Palace for about a year before he was removed from his duties in 1986 and died in a motorcycle accident the following year. In a tape recorded by Diana's voice coach in 1992, Diana revealed she was "deeply in love" with a man in the palace "environment." Although she never called him by name, she described his death as "the biggest blow of my life." She even confessed that she was willing to run away from Prince Charles to live with Barry. "I just, you know, wore my heart on my sleeve. I was only happy when he was around," she said.

Diana also believed that Barry was murdered, adding, "I think he was bumped off." "I should never have played with fire and I did and I got very burnt." The tapes were later seized by police and Barry's death was reinvestigated as a result of Diana's claims.

Diana reportedly struck up a relationship with the rugby player in the early '90s. Even though Will previously denied the affair, his wife, Julia, implied otherwise when she claimed that Diana had "picked the wrong couple" to mess around with. In an interview with The Mail in 1995, Julia said, “I am sad that Will put himself in that position, and that the princess did as well. This has happened to her before, and you hope she won’t do these things again, but obviously she does." Diana reportedly told friends she wouldn't apologize for Julia's comments and denied the affair, telling them, "Surely I’m allowed to have a friendship without being accused of having an affair. I can’t speak to a man without people assuming I’m up to no good.” Will and Julia divorced the following year.

Hasnat was a junior surgeon at the Royal Brompton when he first met Diana. The two carried on a secret relationship for two years while Diana was still married to Charles in 1995. Diana would often visit him at the hospital and call him under the pseudonym "Armani." Hasnat is considered to have been the love of Diana's life, and she even met his parents and introduced him to William and Harry.

While Hasnat eventually ended their romance, fearful of the media attention, he opened up about their relationship in court in 2008, saying, "I think in her head she wanted to get married, but practically she had not thought about the implications. . . . Emotionally she felt she was still young. She wanted a husband to be there for her, to have a normal relationship with him," he said.

Following her split from Hasnat, Diana began dating the Egyptian heir and film producer in 1997. The two dated for a couple months and vacationed in the French Rivera before their lives were tragically cut short by a car accident in Paris. Just minutes after leaving the Hotel Ritz with Dodi's bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones and driver Henri Paul, Henri lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid paparazzi. Dodi and Henri were instantly killed, while Diana was pronounced dead less than two hours later and Trevor suffered serious facial injuries from the air bags (he is the sole survivor of the crash). It was later revealed that Henri had a blood-alcohol level three times the French legal limit at the time of the crash.