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It has been reported that Humayun Saeed will play Princess Diana's love interest Hasnat Khan - who she branded 'Mr Wonderful' - in the highly-anticipated fifth series of The Crown.
www.dailymail.co.uk
The Crown series five: Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed 'will play Princess Diana's former lover Hasnat Khan' - who she dubbed 'Mr Wonderful'
- The 63-year-old British-Pakistani heart and lung surgeon was romantically involved with Princess Diana from 1995-1997
- The couple met at the Royal Brompton Hospital when Diana was visiting a friend who was recovering from a heart operation
- She is said to have been so smitten at one point that she considered converting to Islam so the pair could marry
- Their two-year fling ended in the early summer of 1997; Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31 of that year
- Speaking in 2008, the surgeon broke an 11-year silence about the Princess to say, 'I found her a very normal person with great qualities'
- The Crown casting update appeared to be confirmed by a tweet actress Mahira Khan wrote on Sunday afternoon
By
MILLIE PAYNE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 19:38 EDT, 9 January 2022 | UPDATED: 19:57 EDT, 9 January 2022
Humayun Saeed will reportedly play
Princess Diana's love interest Hasnat Khan - who she branded 'Mr Wonderful' - in the highly-anticipated fifth series of
The Crown.
The casting update appeared to be confirmed by a tweet actress Mahira Khan wrote on Sunday afternoon, which read: 'Finaaaallly it’s out!!!! So proud! So excited!!! MashAllah mashAllah
What a show! What a star
@iamhumayunsaeed @TheCrownNetflix.'
As well as being an accoladed actor, the 50-year-old Pakistani film star is also a producer and co-founded the media production house Six Sigma Plus.
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The Crown series five: Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed (l) 'will play Princess Diana's former lover Hasnat Khan' (r) - who she dubbed 'Mr Wonderful'
Humayun was often ranked among the highest paid TV actors of his time and boasts over 5million followers on Instagram.
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63-year-old Hasnat - a British-Pakistani heart and lung surgeon - was romantically involved with Princess Diana from 1995-1997, who nicknamed him 'Natty' and branded him 'Mr Wonderful.'
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During their fling, which ended in the summer of 1997, Diana - who is said to have considered him the love of her life - met the surgeon's family and even considered converting to Islam.
News: The casting update appeared to be confirmed by a tweet actress Mahira Khan wrote on Sunday afternoon
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Former lover: 63-year-old Hasnat - a British-Pakistani heart and lung surgeon - was romantically involved with Princess Diana from 1995-1997, who also nicknamed him 'Natty' (pictured 2008)
Speaking in 2008, the surgeon broke an 11-year silence about the Princess to say, 'I found her a very normal person with great qualities.'
The couple met at the Royal Brompton Hospital when Diana was visiting a friend who was recovering from a heart operation.
They then pursued a discreet, two-year affair which ended in the early summer of 1997. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31 of that year.
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Romance: During their fling, which ended in the summer of 1997, Diana - who is said to have considered him the love of her life - met the surgeon's family and even considered converting to Islam
1997: Princess Diana's famous dress she wore to Swan Lake performance
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The Princess's closest friends previously spoke of her distress when the surgeon ended their relationship.
She had met his family during her 1996 visit to Pakistan, a trip on which she wore a traditional shalwar kameez - baggy trousers paired with a flowing dress.
She is said to have been so smitten at one point that she considered converting to Islam so the pair could marry.
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Royalty: Diana had met his family during her 1996 visit to Pakistan, a trip on which she wore a traditional shalwar kameez - baggy trousers paired with a flowing dress (pictured that year)
She abandoned the idea when Mr Khan decided their relationship would not work long-term.
His father, Abdul Rasheed Khan, said his son had told the family: 'If I married her [Diana], 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.'
In 2013, Diana's close friend Jemima Khan, who was with her on her 1996 Pakistan trip, said the Princess was so 'madly in love' with Hasnat that she considered moving to Pakistan to be with him.
In a
Vanity Fair article titled: 'The Grandmother Prince George Never Knew', Jemima said Diana sought her advice during fundraising visits to Lahore.
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Speaking out: In 2013, Diana's close friend Jemima Khan, who was with her on her 1996 Pakistan trip, said the Princess was so 'madly in love' with Hasnat that she considered moving to Pakistan to be with him (Jemima and Diana pictured in May 1997)
'She wanted to know how hard it had been for me to adapt to life in Pakistan,' she told the magazine's contributing editor Sarah Ellison.
'Both times she also went to meet [Hasnat's] family secretly to discuss the possibility of marriage.'
Diana was said to have been very keen to impress his immediate family, especially his mother.
'Diana: Queen of Style' documentary explores Diana's iconic style
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However, Jemima said the surgeon's mother - Naheed Khan - would have been very unlikely to approve of her son marrying an English woman.
'[For a] son to marry an English girl is every conservative Pashtun mother’s worst nightmare,' Jemima said.
'You send your son to be educated in England and he comes back with an English bride. It’s something they dread.'
According to Jemima, the surgeon also 'hated the thought of being in the glare of publicity for the rest of his life' if the pair had ended up marrying.
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Decisions: According to Jemima, the surgeon also ' hated the thought of being in the glare of publicity for the rest of his life' if the pair had ended up marrying'
And in his interview as part of the Lord Stevens inquiry into Diana's death, he called marriage 'a ridiculous idea', adding that he 'told her that the only way I could see us having a vaguely normal life together would be if we went to Pakistan, as the press don’t bother you there.'
The pair's relationship was depicted in 2013 film Diana, which starred Naomi Watts in the title role.
However, Mr Khan refused to cooperate with the filmmakers.
WHO HAS BEEN CAST IN SERIES FIVE OF THE CROWN?
PRINCESS DIANA - PLAYED BY ELIZABETH DEBICKI (REPLACING EMMA CORRIN)
Out with the old... MailOnline takes a look at The Crown's new stars for series five - it was announced that Elizabeth had been cast as Princess Diana last August, and fans of the Netflix show were delight to hear that the Australian actress would be taking on the role
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Screen star: From her big break in 2013's The Great Gatsby to becoming a household name thanks to 2016 TV series The Night Manager, Elizabeth steadily climbed up the ranks of showbusiness to secure the career-making role
It was announced that Elizabeth, 30, had been cast as Princess Diana last August, and fans of the Netflix show were delighted to hear that the Australian actress would be taking on the role - replacing Emma Corrin.
Past: Emma Corrin played the People's Princess in the show's fourth series
From her big break in 2013's The Great Gatsby to becoming a household name thanks to 2016 TV series The Night Manager, the star steadily climbed up the ranks of showbusiness to secure the career-making role.
A former ballerina in training, Elizabeth switched to theatre during high school. She studied at University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts, where she was also awarded the Richard Pratt Bursary for outstanding acting students.
She shot to stardom after making her debut in The Great Gatsby in 2013, after impressing the film's director, Baz Luhrmann, with her brief appearance in the 2011 Australian movie A Few Best Men.
Since then, she has appeared in several movies including The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Tenet and The Cloverfield Paradox.
Elizabeth has also done voiceovers for Peter Rabbit and appeared in television series The Kettering Incident and The Night Manager alongside Tom Hiddleston.
The actress said of her casting last year: 'Princess Diana's spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many. It is my privilege and honour to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one.'
PRINCESS ANNE - PLAYED BY CLAUDIA HARRISON (REPLACING ERIN DOHERTY)
Who's who? The actress playing Princess Anne in The Crown's fifth season has been revealed as The IT Crowd and Humans star Claudia
RADA-trained performer Claudia was spotted in character on-set at Scotland's Covesea Lighthouse on Tuesday, where she was shooting opposite Imelda Staunton, who is taking on the role of
Queen Elizabeth II in the
Netflix show.
Claudia, 45, boasts a number of TV gigs on her CV as well as a high-profile co-star following her turn in 2005 thriller Archangel, where she starred opposite Daniel Craig in the show about a mystery concerning dictator Josef Stalin.
Throwback: The role of Princess Anne was previously played by Erin Doherty in The Crown's third and fouth series
She is a farmer’s wife and a mother-of-three and is said to have been ‘shocked and delighted’ when she was chosen to play Anne when the Royal was aged in her 40s.
As well as Imelda, Claudia was also shooting alongside Theo Fraser Steele, who is thought to be playing Anne's second husband Timothy Laurence.
After she was seen on set of Tuesday, tongues began wagging over the identity of who was playing the royal and also over her remarkable likeness to Princess Anne.
One Twitter account entitled Royal Watcher, shared a message reading: 'Ok I think the actress playing Princess Anne is called Claudia Harrison? #TheCrown', alongside a trio of images of Claudia in different roles as well as an image from on-set.
The role of Princess Anne was previously played by Erin Doherty in 2019's third and last year's fourth series of The Crown.