Dr Hasnat Khan is a British-Pakistani heart surgeon who met Princess Diana when she visited the Royal Brompton hospital in 1995. She was there with her friend Oonagh Toffolo, whose husband Joseph was recovering from heart surgery.

The Guardian reported that after first meeting him, Diana returned to the hospital almost every day for three weeks to pursue him before they began a romantic relationship.

The relationship was kept a secret but grew quickly. According to The Guardian, the Princess asked her butler Paul Burrell to find a priest who would marry her to Khan, who is Muslim, and that she had also introduced him to William and Harry and visited his parents’ home in Pakistan.

The couple reportedly considered moving there, but Diana changed her mind, and after considering other countries to live in, they broke up in 1997. This was apparently due to Khan’s reluctance to make their relationship public, fearing for how it would affect his ability to continue working.

In spite of this, sources close to the Princess before she died have said Khan was the real ‘great love’ of her life.

Diana’s butler Burrell said: “The love of her life was Hasnat, not Dodi, who died with her and who she’d been in a relationship with for 30 days. I think if the accident hadn’t happened, she’d have rekindled her romance with Hasnat.

“It may not have led to marriage but would have given some happiness. She would have found happiness in other ways, in helping others and in her sons’ marriages – and in their children.”

Who plays Dr Hasnat Khan in The Crown season 5?

Dr Hasnat Khan is played in The Crown season 5 by Pakistani actor and producer Humayun Saeed.

Saeed is known for appearing films such as Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, which at one time was the highest grossing Pakistani film of all-time.

Saeed recently spoke about working with Diana star Elizabeth Debicki, telling GEO News: “It was great working with Elizabeth. We had already interacted during our chemistry reading online before we met again on set in the UK.

“I was a bit nervous about being on a new project and working with a new team and she [Elizabeth] sensed that and told me that she feels the same at the start of a new project. That really helped!”

How does Dr Hasnat Khan factor into The Crown season 5?

Netflix

In The Crown season 5, just as in reality, Diana meets Khan when she visits the hospital with her friend Oonagh, whose husband is having surgery.

Diana seems immediately taken with Khan, telling her friend that he is “dishy” and has “gorgeous eyes”. Diana then visits the hospital again on a number of occasions, with a nurse telling Khan she’s been coming in “most days” to visit and speak with the patients there.

Khan thanks her for what she’s been doing, and then asks if she will meet him in an hour’s time at midnight, when he will take his lunch break. He arrives late and offers her a bag of crisps, and the pair talk about his roots in Pakistan and Diana’s own interest in the country.

They agree to go to the cinema, where they see Apollo 13 together, with Diana in disguise. That evening they have an intimate conversation, and when Diana asks for a kiss, Khan seems confused as to why she is attracted to him.

She says: “You forget I already had a prince. He broke my heart. I’m just looking for a frog to make me happy.” They then share a kiss.

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