Who is Dr Hasnat Khan? New season of 'The Crown' focuses on Princess Diana's 'true love'
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The much-anticipated fifth season of 'The Crown'has been released on Netflix. And, like the previousseasons, this season too has opened to great reviews. The new season revolves around the troubled marriageof now-King Charles and his ex-wife, the late Princess Diana.
Apart from Diana's mental health and her turbulent marriage life with Charles, the season also shows Diana's romantic life, and while we talk about her love life, the first individual who comes to most people's thoughts is the businessman Dodi Fayed,with whom the late Princess died in a tragic car crash. But did you know, Dodi was not the only man to have romanced Diana?
The fifth season of the show introduces us to many new faces, but the one character that most of us were not aware of was Diana's first boyfriend, Dr Hasnat Khan, whom she used to describe as her "soulmate."
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Some reports suggest that Hasnat was the first person with whom Diana fell in love after her marriage with Charles was over.
In 'The Crown' season 5, Khan, played by actor Humayun Saeed, appears in the seventh episode, titled 'No Woman's Land.'Diana first saw Hasnat while she was visiting to see her friendOonagh Toffolo's husbandwho was recovering in the hospitalafter a bypass heart surgery.
So, who was Hasnat Khan?
Hasnat Khan, aPakistani-origin doctor, wasa heart and lung surgeon. Diana and Hasnat first crossed paths in 1995 at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Sources say that it was a pretty low-key affair, but the connection between Diana and Hasnat was very deep. Many people who were close to the princess have revealed that she used to call him Mr Wonderful and the only loveof her life.
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After Diana saw him, she used to visit the hospital regularly and continued to do so for many weeks, till the time they become friends.
Diana wanted to marry Hasnat!
Diana and her relationship with Hasnat is not well known, but reports suggest that their relationship was very serious. At one point, Princess Di wanted to marry him and have a family with him.
The royal author Ingrid Seward has said, "It was no casual fling; she wanted to marry Hasnat and have a baby, a daughter in particular. She thought the combination of their different ethnic backgrounds would make a wonderful family.''
Things were so serious, that the Princess of Wales even travelled to Pakistan to meet Khan's family.
One day, Diana even asked her butler to find a priest who would marry her to Khan. She even introducedhim to hertwo sons William and Harry.
The Breakup
The exact reason behind the breakup is not known. But sources say that Khan was sure that he would not be able to live a normal life after his relationship with the Princess of Wales became public. They tried many options, but nothing worked out, and they went their separate ways in 1997, a few months before her death.
"My main concern about us getting married was that my life would be hell because of who she was. I knew I would not be able to live a normal life, and if we ever had children together, I would not be able to take them anywhere or do normal things with them," Khan once said.
