Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) The last time he met Prince William, Imran Khan was a sporting hero who told the young royal about his hope of winning political office.

Twenty-three years on, the former cricket star-turned-prime minister has made good on his promise, welcoming the Duke of Cambridge to his official residence in Islamabad during a royal tour of Pakistan this week.

While the official five-day visit was designed to bolster UK-Pakistan relations, the meeting over lunch inevitably triggered memories of William's mother, Diana , Princess of Wales.

"[The] last time I met him he was a boy, along with Prince Harry, and they came with their mother to my ex-mother-in-law's house," Khan told CNN in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

Imran Khan welcomed Diana to Lahore, Pakistan at the airport in 1996.

Diana was close to the family of Khan's ex-wife, Jemima Goldsmith. Diana often took her young sons to play in the garden at the Goldsmith family home in leafy Richmond Park, southwest London. Jemima's mother, Annabel Goldsmith, was something of a mother-figure to Diana.

Read More