Princess Diana Asked About Interfaith Marriage While Dating Hasnat Khan, Photographer Says

Princess Diana once sought advice on interfaith marriage from photographer Anwar Hussein.

Hussein — whose work chronicling Princess Diana's life between 1980, when she began dating Prince Charles, and 1997, when she died in a car crash at age 36, is featured in the new exhibit "Princess Diana: Accredited Access" — told People that the late royal approached him about the subject during a flight in the mid-1990s.

"All the lights were dimmed on the flight, and she came and whispered, 'Can I have a chat?'" Hussein recalled. "She knew that I was married to an English girl, Caroline. She wanted to know about Islam. She was asking about being married when one person is Muslim and another is Protestant."

He continued, "She was interested because of what she was going through with [her then-boyfriend] Dr. Hasnat Khan. She didn't mention him, but she assumed I knew it. I think she was wondering how the family would react to him and things like that."

Princess Diana dated the distinguished Pakistani surgeon and cardiologist following her separation from Prince Charles in 1992.

Royal biographer Judy Wade previously told the publication that Princess Diana "wanted to marry" Khan and "had this vision that together they could bridge east and west, crossing creeds and continents. They could save lives and make it a better world."

Jemima Khan, Princess Diana's close friend and the former wife of Hasnat's distant cousin Imran Khan, told Vanity Fair that the late princess was "madly in love" with the surgeon and "wanted to marry him, even if it meant living in Pakistan."

However, Khan was not comfortable with the intense media scrutiny of their relationship. Royal biographer Tina Brown said in the documentary "The Last 100 Days of Diana" that "Hasnat was very much in love with Diana but had really reached the end of his tether because Diana pushed him and pushed him and pushed him to go public and say we're a couple, and he wouldn't."

Princess Diana reportedly gave him an ultimatum, and they eventually split. She went on to meet Dodi Al Fayed, who was with her the night she died in a car crash in Paris.

Hussein said he had struck up a close working relationship with Princess Diana, with the royal often talking to him at public events, during plane travel and at media receptions.

"The story of Diana unfolded in front of us," he said. "I saw every side of Diana. She was a genuine, good human being."

"Princess Diana: Accredited Access" is currently open in Chicago and Los Angeles, with New York City next.