Khan, a heart surgeon with whom the princess had a two-year affair while he was working in London, hails from Pakistan's Punjab province. Wary of publicity, Khan recently gave up his job in London and returned to Pakistan.

Lawyers involved in the court hearings in Diana's inquest are now confident that Khan will give evidence, either in the form of a written statement or via a video link from Pakistan.

They believe he is anxious to set the record straight, the Times reported.

The relationship between Diana and Dodi Fayed had reportedly been over several weeks before the pair was killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.

Khan ended his relationship with the princess only months before her death after concluding that a marriage between them would doomed to fail.

According to Abdul Rashid, Khan's father, his son did not want to marry Diana as they were poles apart.

"If I married her, our marriage would not last for more than a year. We are culturally so different from each other.

She is from Venus and I am from Mars. If it ever happened, it would be like a marriage from two different planets," Khan reportedly told his father.

Nine years after the loss of Diana, Khan married Hadia Sher Ali, a woman of royal lineage.