Diana is still with me, says grief-stricken Mr Wonderful: Hasnat Khan tells how her memory helped him cope with release of film about their love

Princess Diana’s former lover Hasnat Khan has told how he believes she is still with him and that her memory has helped him cope with this month’s release of a film about their relationship. 
The heart surgeon, nicknamed ‘Mr Wonderful’ by the princess, said the pair were ‘inseparable’ during their two-year romance and revealed he is still struggling to come to terms with her death 16 years on. 
He said her determination to help others through charity work has inspired him to embark on a surgical mission in Africa. 

Grief: Hasnat Khan has said he believes Princess Diana is still with him and that her memory has helped him to cope

Dr Khan said: ‘It’s been difficult for me to get my head around Diana’s death or talk about it.
‘After she died things were difficult, very difficult.
'We all have our own traumas and get on with it. But when it’s there in your face year in, year out, it’s hard.’
Dr Khan is based at Basildon University Hospital but this month will be setting up a surgery in Ethiopia with charity Chain of Hope, which cares for children with heart conditions across the third world.
He said: ‘Sometimes when I do a job like this I do have these very strong feelings that Diana is still with me somehow.
‘Not in a religious or spiritual sense, but in the way you feel when you’ve known someone really well in your life and instinctively know how they’d react in a given situation.
‘The past few weeks have been tough and I know Diana would be saying, “Stay focused and keep getting on with your life. Help these children. Be happy”.
‘I also know she would be proud of the sort of work we’re doing here in Ethiopia
‘She was a great humanitarian and that’s how she should always be remembered.’
Dr Khan branded the movie Diana, starring Naomi Watts, a ‘betrayal’ of their relationship. 
He said: ‘I haven’t seen the film and I haven’t met anyone who has seen it, but I can tell you for sure that it’s based on a superficial idea. I have kept things very discreet, but now this film is trying to open things up again.’
And he said that contrary to claims in the film, his family never objected to their relationship.  
One scene depicts a supposed meeting between Dr Khan, played by Naveen Andrews, and one of his uncles, who encourages him to choose between marrying the princess and his Muslim family.

'Betrayal': Actress Naomi Watts as Princess Diana and Naveen Andrews as Dr Hasnat Khan in a scene from the film Diana released this year

Mr Wonderful: Hasnat Khan said the pair were ‘inseparable’ during their two-year romance

Dr Khan said: ‘Both my parents, grandmother and all close relatives who met Diana liked her very much and my parents and grandmother never objected to our relationship.
‘They were very much happy for us to make a decision ourselves and made it clear they would support it 100 per cent. We both had their blessing.
‘This amounts to the film projecting a betrayal of our relationship and my relationship with my immediate family... It’s all based on presumptions.’ 
Now 54, Dr Khan is single after an arranged marriage in 2006 ended in divorce. 
Friends said Diana wanted to marry Dr Khan but their relationship ended weeks before her death in a Paris car crash in August 1997. 
The film is based on Kate Snell’s 2001 book Diana: Her Last Love, which suggests that Diana was seeing Dodi Fayed, who died with her, to make Dr Khan jealous.