Personal life after divorce
After the divorce, Diana retained her apartment in
Kensington Palace, completely redecorated, and it remained her home until her death. She gave her loyal staff members a pay raise.
She publicly dated the respected heart
surgeon Hasnat Khan and was finally thought to have found love with
Dodi Al-Fayed, with whom she was publicly intimate.
After her
divorce, Diana did a great deal of useful work particularly for the Red Cross and in a campaign to rid the world of land mines. Her work was always on a humanitarian rather than a political level. She was extremely aware of her status as mother of a future King and was prepared to do anything to prevent harm to her sons. She pursued her own interests in
philanthropy, music, fashion and travel - although she still required royal consent to take her children on holiday or represent the UK abroad. Without a holiday or weekend home, Diana spent most of her time in London, often without her sons, who were with Prince Charles or at
boarding school. She assuaged her loneliness with visits to the
gym and
cinema, private charity work, incognito midnight walks through Central London and by compulsively watching her favourite soap operas (
EastEnders and
Brookside) with a 'TV dinner' in the isolation of her apartment.
The alternative 'court' she cultivated was sometimes seen as unconventional and controversial. Included within it were numerous
New Age healers and spiritualists, the
feminist empowerment therapist
Susie Orbach, well known personalities such as
Gianni Versace, George Michael, Elton John, and
Michael Barrymore with whom she would visit
Soho nightclubs, bohemian members of the aristocracy such as
Annabel Goldsmith, university students, several tabloid journalists and
Stephen Twigg, nicknamed '
Rasputin' for his influence. It was apparently Twigg who helped Diana realise her potential as an
INFP, and introduced her to
Jungian theories in general, which she had previously derided as an interest of her ex-husband.
When asked in an interview about the people who she most admired, Diana replied that she had always admired
Margaret Thatcher, Madonna and
Mother Teresa as they were all strong women and at the front of their specific fields, being politics, entertainment and religion.