Di wanted to become a middle-class princess

Princess Diana dreamed of marrying heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and leading a middle-class life, the inquest into her death has heard.

London, Dec 19 : Princess Diana dreamed of marrying heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and leading a 'middle-class life,' the inquest into her death has heard.

Lucia Flecha da Lima, Diana's close friend and confidante, told the London hearing that the princess had hinted to friends that she would like to settle down in South Africa with Khan, as she was "in love" with him.

However, Flecha da Lima said that she told Diana to abandon the idea, saying that she was not a "middle-class princess".

Flecha da Lima, the wife of the former Brazilian ambassador to London, became close to the princess in 1990 after meeting her at an official function.

Speaking by videolink from Brazil, she told the jury that the princess would talk with her about boyfriends.

Commenting upon Dr Hasnat Khan, Flecha da Lima said that Diana wanted to marry him.

"I saw why they were in love. She said she wanted to marry Hasnat but I told her: 'You're not a middle-class princess and you can't dream of living a middle-class life,'" the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

"She was dreaming and I don't think [marriage] was ever likely to happen," she added.

The inquest has previously heard that Diana was as eager for a second marriage as a "rash on the face", and was only with Dodi to make Hasnat, her real love interest, jealous.

Flecha da Lima also said she did not believe that Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed in the summer of 1997 was particularly serious.

Diana and Dodi, along with their driver Henri Paul died when their Mercedes crashed in a Paris tunnel early on August 31, 1997.

ANI