Diana's True Love, by Her Closest Friend

Started by cinrit, October 15, 2013, 11:59:03 AM

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cinrit

QuoteTo Princess Diana she was almost like a second mother.  Lucia Flecha de Lima rarely speaks of their friendship but the opening of the film Diana in her native Brazil has seen the former ambassador's wife open up about the woman who, 16 years after her death, continues to intrigue.

On the three significant men in Diana's life, Madame De Lima, who became friends with the Princess after her husband was appointed to the Court of St James's, is clear.

She was 'not in love with Dodi Fayed', she may have had a 'passion' for heart surgeon Hasnat Khan but 'the love of her life' was Prince Charles.

Diana's true love, by her closest friend | Mail Online

Cindy
Always be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn.  Then always be a unicorn.

sandy

I think she would always love him as the father of her children. But I think she had yet to meet the true love of her life. I disagree that they became "friends" at the end.  I still think she had her guard up a bit with Charles and Camilla. If she totally trusted Charles she would have allowed the Palace security to come back to work with her.  Diana would have had to be a masochist to consider Charles the love of her life. She was not exactly pining away for Charles and told friends she wanted to remarry and have at least one more child. Not the actions of somebody living in the past.

I doubt Flecha de La Lima knew for certain how Diana felt about Dodi. The secret went with Diana to her grave.

amabel

Quote from: cinrit on October 15, 2013, 11:59:03 AM
QuoteTo Princess Diana she was almost like a second mother.  Lucia Flecha de Lima rarely speaks of their friendship but the opening of the film Diana in her native Brazil has seen the former ambassador’s wife open up about the woman who, 16 years after her death, continues to intrigue.

On the three significant men in Diana’s life, Madame De Lima, who became friends with the Princess after her husband was appointed to the Court of St James’s, is clear.

She was ‘not in love with Dodi Fayed’, she may have had a ‘passion’ for heart surgeon Hasnat Khan but ‘the love of her life’ was Prince Charles.

Diana's true love, by her closest friend | Mail Online

Cindy

is it my imagiatnion or is everyone who knew Diana suddenly talking?? I thought well of Hasnat Khan and Lucia Flecha because they DIDNT say much about their friendships with Diana.. now is it due to the Diana movie that a lot of people are prattling on about her?

cinrit

Amabel, I was thinking the same thing.  I'm completely surprised especially at these two....

Cindy
Always be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn.  Then always be a unicorn.

Trudie

I think both are speaking a bit to clear up what some viewing the movie will see as truth. Was Charles the love of Diana's life she claimed in Panorama that she was desperately in love with her husband. I believe Diana was in love with Charles in the early years of their marriage. Though Diana would love Charles as the father of her children I believe the treatment she received caused that love to slowly extinguish. As for Hasnat and Dodi there is nothing concrete to suggest either would become the love of her life and James Hewitt she said she was in love with him but he had let her down. At the time of her death I believe Diana was enjoying her single status and being able to experience new relationships that was denied her due to her sheltered life before she married Charles. I think she was still looking for that special someone.



amabel

Quote from: cinrit on October 16, 2013, 11:58:24 AM
Amabel, I was thinking the same thing.  I'm completely surprised especially at these two....

Cindy
It is disappointing.  I think that possibly Hasnat Khan has been angered and upset by this film and perhaps he feels he ought to speak out and set the record straight.  But Lucia Flecha  was only a Friend of Dis' furor a few years and has been usually good enough at keeping quiet.  so why start chattering now?  But there have been others like that cameraman speaking up lately. I guess the film has given Di a bit of notice again, because to tell the truth, she's NOT been remembered all THAT much, even during the Kate pregnancy stuff...and that sets off people comingout of the woodwork with "stories".  Also of course teh SAS guy...

cinrit

I got the impression that Hasnat Khan spoke out to clear up misconceptions about himself more than any misconceptions about Diana.  Can't figure Lucia Flecha, though.  What good to either herself or Diana does it do for her to speak out?

Cindy
Always be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn.  Then always be a unicorn.

sandy

Quote from: amabel on October 16, 2013, 04:14:27 PM
Quote from: cinrit on October 16, 2013, 11:58:24 AM
Amabel, I was thinking the same thing.  I'm completely surprised especially at these two....

Cindy
It is disappointing.  I think that possibly Hasnat Khan has been angered and upset by this film and perhaps he feels he ought to speak out and set the record straight.  But Lucia Flecha  was only a Friend of Dis' furor a few years and has been usually good enough at keeping quiet.  so why start chattering now?  But there have been others like that cameraman speaking up lately. I guess the film has given Di a bit of notice again, because to tell the truth, she's NOT been remembered all THAT much, even during the Kate pregnancy stuff...and that sets off people comingout of the woodwork with "stories".  Also of course teh SAS guy...

Diana has come up a lot before and after the  birth of the royal baby. Each special issue on the Royal Baby features a large section on Diana with her boys and how she raised them.  She was decidedly discussed and out there regarding Baby George. George is her grandson.

I don't know why Lucia spoke out now and she was among Diana's closest friends according to various biographies I read. Not THE closest friend.

dianab

#8
hmm?
According to the all of books out there about Diana, she was THE closest friend. And when Diana was alive she was described as the VERY BFF of Diana. And everyone else who likes described themselves as inner circle of Diana, says Lucia was her THE VERY best friend.

sandy

I read her closest friends were: Rosa Monckton, Elsa Bowker, Lucia, Carolyn Bartholomew. Each one genuinely loved and cared for her. I never read any of them was a "favorite." Carolyn Bartholomew helped Diana at her lowest point and did an intervention and as a result Diana sought the help of a doctor who helped her keep  bulimia  under control. Elsa Bowker was a mother figure for Diana. Lucia and Rosa were fast friends with Diana. Rosa helped Diana posthumously by speaking out against the idea of Camilla attending the Diana Memorial Service. She had the guts to speak out against it.

amabel

Quote from: dianab on October 16, 2013, 08:46:04 PM
hmm?
According to the all of books out there about Diana, she was THE closest friend. And when Diana was alive she was described as the VERY BFF of Diana. And everyone else who likes described themselves as inner circle of Diana, says Lucia was her THE VERY best friend.
News to me.  I don't think she knew Di til  a few years before her death and while they were close for a time, she had other friends who went back longer in her life.

dianab

#11
They met & became friends in 1991. When Lucia still was living in London, Diana used stayed weekends at embassy. After when she moved to USA, Diana visited her, even spend the Christmas 1993 with her & her family in Washington (stayed there more an whole week). Lucia Flecha de Lima visited Diana, in London, in final day of divorce. When Diana goes to USA she stayed at embassy (I think the last time was related to landmines in mid 1997), they were too often seen shopping in NY when Diana stayed in city. What always was reported was Lucia Flecha de Lima was her most trustworthy friend, since she into in life of Diana in early 1990s. Many said the relationship/closeness of Diana with Lucia was one she would wish have with her own mother. Always was in this way she & her friendship with Diana was described. :hide:

cinrit

I don't remember hearing her name back in the day, but I may have.  I've seen her referred to here in the past, though, as a very close friend of Diana's, if not her very best friend.

Cindy
Always be yourself.  Unless you can be a unicorn.  Then always be a unicorn.

amabel


dianab

Quote from: cinrit on October 17, 2013, 02:28:17 PM
I don't remember hearing her name back in the day, but I may have.  I've seen her referred to here in the past, though, as a very close friend of Diana's, if not her very best friend.

Cindy
Yes, this is what she was described for press. I dont understant all the fuss in this thread from some and the relationship she was described (when Diana was alive and after she died) have had with Diana. Who liked to read about Diana in 1990s, definitely saw Diana out & about with Lucia Flecha de Lima and saw as she was described as BFF of Diana and she was someone else Diana feels who could trust (she was repeatedly described in this way). All this bios come out after her death repeat the same thing about their friendship...

sandy

Fortunately for Diana she had a close circle of friends who were there for her.

Lucy

Actually Lucia Flecha di Lima spoke up about Diana several years ago during the infamous inquest into Diana's death.I believe she has been cautioned about speaking ill of William and Harry's father, originally by Diana herself.

Prince Charles and Diana were not at all friendly during her last months. You can go to the London Times archives and elsewhere and find that he was outraged at her yachting with the Al Fayeds , taking William and Harry long for a fun vacation. He was also furious Diana appeared on a yacht in a bathing suit ( how extraordinary ) on or near the birthday of his then paramour, Mrs.Camilla Parker Bowles and opined , through his mates, that Diana dared to " upstage " him and Camilla when he was throwing an extravagant party for Parker Bowles at Highgrove and was incandescent Diana was getting more attention.

Diana herself noted that she loved and adored James Hewitt.Had he not been destroyed by the powers that be ( he was a decorated war hero ) things may have been very different for the couple. Dodi and Hasnet were more friends than anything else.
In the end, Lucia sold Diana out in favour of keeping favour with Charles.

Diana's revenge: Dodi affair was calculated to snatch attention from Camilla | Mail Online
DIANISTA # 1

amabel

You can't be serious??  Diana was deeply in love with Hasnat Khan. S he had finished years before with J Hewitt when he had used their affair as a money making scheme for himself, which he has continued to do since her death showing himself to be a sleazy cad. 
Di had long since dropped him, and had been involved with several other men, Khan, Oliver Hoare, and Dodi Fayed.  I don't think the romance with Dodi was very serious, it was a way of hitting out at Charles who was increasingly public in his romance with Camilla and at Hasnat who had refused to go public with their love or to take it to another level... but I think she was at leaset considering Dodi as a husband, due to his wealth..  However I dont think it woudl have lasted, she problaby saw it as mainly as a summer romance..  but hewitt was certainly long since gone from her life and was deservedly disliked by her...

marine2109

#18

sandy

Quote from: Lucy on October 21, 2013, 07:49:11 PM
Actually Lucia Flecha di Lima spoke up about Diana several years ago during the infamous inquest into Diana's death.I believe she has been cautioned about speaking ill of William and Harry's father, originally by Diana herself.

Prince Charles and Diana were not at all friendly during her last months. You can go to the London Times archives and elsewhere and find that he was outraged at her yachting with the Al Fayeds , taking William and Harry long for a fun vacation. He was also furious Diana appeared on a yacht in a bathing suit ( how extraordinary ) on or near the birthday of his then paramour, Mrs.Camilla Parker Bowles and opined , through his mates, that Diana dared to " upstage " him and Camilla when he was throwing an extravagant party for Parker Bowles at Highgrove and was incandescent Diana was getting more attention.

Diana herself noted that she loved and adored James Hewitt.Had he not been destroyed by the powers that be ( he was a decorated war hero ) things may have been very different for the couple. Dodi and Hasnet were more friends than anything else.
In the end, Lucia sold Diana out in favour of keeping favour with Charles.

Diana's revenge: Dodi affair was calculated to snatch attention from Camilla | Mail Online

Diana said she was very let down by Hewitt selling her out and cooperating with the author of Princess in Love.  It was said that she dropped contact with him ca. 1994 (they were not lovers then and had broken up the relationship in 1991). Hewitt then cooperated with Pasternack the writer of Princess in Love. I don't think they would ever have reconnected. And Hewitt sold her out after she died by going under "hypnosis" and saying that they "might have" been lovers earlier, thus bringing up the nasty gossip about harry's paternity. Hewitt sold Diana out quite a few times. He was finished. And he was the one responsible for his own destruction, he shot himself in the foot. At first he was helpful and kind to Diana but turned out to be a betrayer of the late Princess.

Diana's friends never thought Diana and Khan were "just friends." Hasnet said t hey were intimate.

I do agree that she and Charles never really became friends that Summer. I don't think she trusted him.

Eri

I think in retrospect Di  married at 19 with a man she idolized but never loved if you ask me ... the others were just her making up for the sheltered life she lead before marrying  but she never met her true love if you ask me ... I think "friends" is going too far but I do believe between Chuck and Di things were better before she died you could see it all over his face immediately after her death ...

amabel

I think she loved him, but the person she loved didn't really exist.  And when she got to know him better she didn't like him much. But I think that she clung on to some kind of belief that it would work out and that he would transform into the kind of man she wanted or that she would go on loving him although he irritated her, she irritated him and they had little in common.
I think with her other men, she was deeply in love with Hoare and with Khan, and hoped that one or the other of them would become her husband, and she'd be happier with them than she could be with a man like Charles. Not sure about Dodi. I dotn think he was more than a summer romance and she got bored with him.
As for Charles I don't think that they were that close in their last year or so. I think she got on a bit better but she still Had resentment about his relationship with Camilla.  I think she was upset that he had another woman that he was settled with and happy with, whereas her attempts to find another man were not going well.

sandy

I think she had reservations about Hoare. When he left his wife, she became more ambivalent. I think she needed a confidante and someone to talk over things with and someone to "be there" for her. I don't think she loved him but was besotted by him.

Diana had just gotten a divorce and was dating again. I don't think she felt like she couldn't find anybody, I t hink she may have enjoyed being single and just dating. I don't think she was desperate to find a husband and said she needed another marriage "like a bad rash." Women can be happy without rushing into a marriage because their ex is in a relationship. I think she loved Hasnet but moved on after he would not go public with their relationship.

I think she loved Charles. If she didn't she would not have cared if he ran to Camilla. She'd sit back and enjoy the perks and play the wife in public and let hubby go to his mistress. But she did care and the rejection did hurt her.

I think Charles was shocked that she died but he was right back promoting Camilla less than a year after Diana died and sat back while his friends and sympathizers said ugly things about he late ex wife. If he loved Diana he would have made her non-negotiable--the love would be for the mother of his children not that he was madly in love with her when she died.  Charles was also scared for his life, hence the expression on his face. He was afraid that people would blame him.

I think Charles and Diana's having little in common boiled down to her not playing nice and accepting the mistress as part of her husband's life. Had Charles cut ties with Camilla, I think they could have worked things out. The fly in the ointment IMO was always Camilla.

Eri

It was all Camilla's fault ...everything that went wrong in Di's life it was Camilla's doing  :hemademe: ... Di had nothing to do with it poor little Angel just an innocent bystander <_< ...

sandy

Would any marriage have much of a chance if hubby still was in touch with the "other woman" and she was never completely out of his life?  Charles also admitted to his biographer that he preferred Camilla when he married Diana. Fair to Diana? No way. Camilla should have cut off contact with Charles and not butted in. She has a large portion of blame IMO.  If she were squeaky clean, Charles would have had no need to hire expensive spin doctors to try to rehabilitate her. And Charles needed PR work on his image as well.