Why did Princess Diana have a strong connection with Pakistan?

Princess Diana and her love for Pakistan had been the subject of multiple headlines back in the day as the late royal visited the country multiple times before she passed away.

The late Princess of Wales visited the country three times—once in 1991 and later in 1996 and 1997—due to her friendship with the current Prime Minister Imran Khan.

PM Imran and his then-wife Jemima Khan were known to be quite close friends with the People’s Princess who made special trips to Pakistan just to help the former Pakistan team captain raise funds for his cancer hospital, Shaukat Khanam.

Apart from her friendship with Khan and his then-wife, Diana had also contemplated moving to the country after marrying Pakistani cardiologist Hasnat Khan—whom she was linked to for a while before her death.

Jemima had spoken about the consideration during an earlier interview with Vanity Fair in 2013.

“Diana went to Pakistan to help raise funds for Imran’s hospital, but both times she also went to meet his family secretly to discuss the possibility of marriage to Hasnat,” she told the portal.

Dr Hasnat was also a distant cousin of Khan which helped flourish their friendship even more.

Let’s take a look back at her visits to Pakistan: