RICHARD KAY: Besotted Diana toured Australia and holidayed in South Africa - because a psychic told her she'd settle down with her heart surgeon lover in a country beginning with A

Dusk was falling on a brisk mid-March evening as Princess Diana arrived unannounced at Heathrow.When so much of her everyday life was tracked and telegraphed, even reaching the security of the airport VIP lounge undetected was something of a minor triumph.She was booked on a night flight and travelling alone under an assumed name. Her destination was Cape Town where she was to spend time visiting her brother Charles, Earl Spencer, who had moved his family to South Africa two years earlier.The significance of that brief visit was still fresh in his mind when, just a few months later, Spencer delivered the eulogy at his sister's funeral, describing them as 'days I will always treasure. 'It was as if we had been transported back to our childhood, when we spent such an enormous amount of time together – the two youngest in the family'.This week, memories of Diana's 1997 trip – one of only a handful where she managed to evade the paparazzi – came flooding back as it emerged that the house where she stayed with her brother and his four children (Spencer was then separated from his first wife Victoria) has gone on sale.Mischievously – but inevitably – publicity for the guest cottage on the Tarrystone Estate has centred on this royal connection. Beyond such bare-faced hyperbole, however, lies a far more intriguing reason about why Diana chose to visit South Africa when she did A luxury Cape Town estate, in Tarrystone Estate, situated in Upper Constantia, where the late Princess Diana spent time with her family, has been put up for saleThe estate agent gushed: 'We are not just selling a property, it's a story. It's a beautiful home and it's a beautiful estate. It was where Earl Spencer lived, it was where Diana visited.'The 'story' sounds compelling. The cottage in the grounds surrounding the main house, where according to the estate's website the Princess stayed during the visit, was said to be virtually unchanged and described as a 'poignant time capsule of the turbulent final chapters in Diana's life' and a place she treated as a 'private sanctuary' shortly before her death.A brochure went further, boasting that the cottage remained 'exactly as she left it, with the furnishings and decor carefully maintained, offering a rare and deeply evocative glimpse into this remarkable chapter of the property's history'. Among the accompanying photographs there was even a picture of Diana's face on a cushion in the master bedroom.To add to the mix, there were also reports this week that William and Harry had been guests of their uncle at the property in the upscale suburb of Constantia.All very convincing to a potential buyer willing to pay £7million for the whole estate with such a tantalising slice of royal reminiscences, you may think.Alas, it is not entirely accurate. At the time, Diana was head over heels in love with the Pakistan-born heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, whom she had met at the bedside of a close friend he was treating at London's Royal Brompton HospitalDiana did indeed stay with her brother but not in the 'time capsule' cottage, rather in the principal property along with his daughters, Lady Kitty, then six, four-year-old twins Lady Amelia and Lady Eliza, and Louis, Viscount Althorp, who celebrated his third birthday on the day Aunt Diana arrived.And 'sanctuary'? She spent precisely three nights in the country.Eighteen months after Diana's visit, the mansion's thatched roof was struck by a bolt of lightning and was badly damaged by fire which destroyed one wing and the upper floor bedrooms.As Lord Spencer told me this week: 'Diana only stayed there once; William and Harry never stayed there. 'She stayed in the main house, not the cottage... so the nonsense about [the cottage] being unchanged is – well – nonsense! It's a story that runs every time that place sells.'Beyond such bare-faced hyperbole, however, lies a far more intriguing reason about why Diana chose to visit South Africa when she did. For months she had been agitating about arranging a trip to Cape Town – the final destination in a journey that was to take her to three continents.At the time, she was head over heels in love with the Pakistan-born heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan, whom she had met at the bedside of a close friend he was treating at London's Royal Brompton Hospital. Diana had been corresponding with Dr Christiaan Barnard after meeting him at a charity event several months earlier in the Italian resort of Rimini (pictured together in 1997)As their relationship intensified a giddy Diana dared to imagine a future with the dashing physician, even daydreaming about the possibility of one day marrying. But as she frequently told friends at this time, the prospect of a future as the wife of an NHS hospital consultant seemed hopelessly unattainable. She was only just divorced from the Prince of Wales. For his part, Hasnat feared that her royal status and global fame would overwhelm his own ambitions as a cardiologist.Diana was not easily discouraged. Among those she consulted was Rita Rogers, a middle-aged miner's widow of Romany origins from Lower Pilsley, Derbyshire, where she held seances for parents who had lost children.From the late 1980s onwards, the Princess relied on a network of psychics, astrologers, therapists and energy healers as her marriage to Charles unravelled, some for comfort, some for guidance and some for friendship.Rita, a £35-an-hour clairvoyant was Diana's go-to medium, dispensing advice about her life choices and being her go-between to the 'spirit world' – she had relayed messages between the Princess and her late father.Over the years Rita became an essential support in Diana's post-royal life. She had, for example, been a key figure in her decision to give her notorious Panorama interview to Martin Bashir in 1995.And she had known from the beginning all about her relationship with Khan. Diana was not easily discouraged. Among those she consulted was Rita Rogers, a middle-aged miner's widow of Romany origins from Lower Pilsley, Derbyshire, where she held seances for parents who had lost childrenTheir consultations were conducted mostly by telephone and it was in one such call that Diana poured out her heart about how she felt her happiness with the doctor was being thwarted. Rita assured her that she did see them having a future together but one that would have to be abroad. Diana later told me that according to Rita's prophecy she would live in a country beginning with 'A'.For the Princess, who had long believed that her long-term destiny lay in the US, this could only mean America. She knew the country well and had long thought, innocently, she could retreat away from the spotlight there.But she was determined to examine the other possibilities raised by Rita's prediction. Could 'A' stand for Australia, which was where Hasnat Khan had done much of his early medical training? Diana resolved to find out. Almost exactly 30 years ago, in November 1996, Diana flew to Sydney. It was her first official trip abroad after her divorce from Prince Charles was made final.Without her familiar pre-divorce retinue of advisers the trip felt vaguely chaotic – some security passes were printed with incorrect dates and over-eager guests keen to get close to the newly single Princess at a charity ball were allowed within touching distance on the dance floor.But none of this mattered to Diana, who wanted to spend time in the city where Khan had told her he had some of the happiest memories of his life. It even included a visit to the cardiac unit where he had trained.Yet despite a polished performance, by the time she had returned home, Australia was discounted by the Princess; it was simply too far away from William and Harry. 'I could never live on the other side of the world without the boys,' she said.That left one other possibility – Africa, or more specifically South Africa. Not only was this where her brother lived but it was home to one other key figure in our story, the pioneering heart transplant surgeon Dr Christiaan Barnard.Diana had been corresponding with Dr Barnard after meeting him at a charity event several months earlier in the Italian resort of Rimini. She had asked him if there might be any opportunities for someone of Hasnat's experience in South Africa's healthcare system. He promised to help.Dr Barnard's first successful heart transplant had been carried out at Groote Schuur hospital, in Cape Town, not far from her brother's home. Could this be a sign, she wondered?Visiting her brother, which she told me was long overdue, was the perfect cover while she pondered whether South Africa was the 'A' destination that could offer her a new life with Khan.As her brother wrote in his recent best-selling memoir of his sister, Swan Song, she dreamt that they could live there 'happily, normally'. He added: 'The other side of the world seemed to offer the possibility of asylum. Life in England was intolerable for Diana by this point.'Dr Barnard, meanwhile, was as good as his word, leaving messages at Lord Spencer's home for Diana that he was busy investigating medical possibilities for Hasnat Khan.The Princess, meanwhile, did not remain undiscovered for long. A day after her departure she rang me. 'We are under siege,' she told me. 'There are literally eight carloads of photographers outside the house!' Nevertheless, thanks to his local knowledge of the backstreets, Spencer was able to give his sister the break she had wanted, visiting beaches, the winelands and even doing a spot of house-hunting.In between there was one formal occasion which was photographed, a visit by the Princess to the home of the South African president Nelson Mandela. But even the euphoria of meeting Mandela – where they talked about plans to tackle Aids in Sub-Saharan Africa and the joy of being around her nieces and nephew – could not convince Diana that she would find fulfilment or happiness in southern Africa.A few days after returning home she told me: 'Too much barbed wire, too many guard dogs. I don't think I could ever live there.' Within weeks she and Dr Khan had parted.As for Lord Spencer, he found their farewell awkward and it left him feeling helpless. 'I thought as we kissed one another goodbye at Cape Town airport, how deeply unhappy she was and how I really had not been able to help her much with that,' he wrote sadly.He was at home on the estate five months later when he received news his sister had been killed in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36.The following year, 1998, the house was struck by lightning. He and his children escaped unharmed from the subsequent inferno but, after overseeing rebuilding, he sold it.Diana's presence has long since been erased and the Spencer connection extinguished – but don't be surprised if the house on Southern Cross Drive is once again looking for a new chatelaine, that memories of the unhappy Princess find their way into the sales pitch.READ MORE: Princess Diana is crowned the greatest style icon of all time ahead of Kate, Beyonce and Audrey Hepburn