Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed is set to play Dr. Hasnat Khan, one of Princess Diana’s partners after her divorce from Prince Charles of Wales, in the upcoming fifth season of the Netflix series The Crown, according to a report from Variety.
Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell’s book Diana: The Royal Truth noted the significance of her relationship to Khan. He claimed Diana asked him “if it was possible to arrange a private marriage” between her and the British-Pakistani heart surgeon, recalling the princess saying that “this was her soulmate, this was the man she loved more than any other.”
Dr. Khan said in a 2004 statement to cops in London that he was in a relationship with Princess Diana from 1995-1997, and that the pair moved on after Diana met film producer Dodi Fayed. In the same statement, which was later part of a 2008 inquest into Princess Diana’s death, Khan said that he and the Diana had discussed spending their lives together. The couple saw a move to Pakistan as the only solution to escaping the British press, he said, adding that Diana broached it with Jemima Goldsmith, who was then married to Pakistani cricketer and current Prime Minister Imran Khan.
In the same year as Dr. Khan and Diana’s purported split, she and Dodi Fayed died in a car accident in Paris.
Humayun Saeed’s film and television career in Pakistan has been studded with success: he won the ARY award for best actor for the comedy film Jawani Phir Nahi Ani (2015) and is also known for romantic comedy Punjab Nahi Jaungi (2017), which he co-produced. Princess Diana will be played by Elizabeth Debicki in season 5 of The Crown, and The Kite Runner star Khalid Abdalla is slated to join the cast as Dodi Fayed.