February 18, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 29, 1428

LONDON, Feb 17: One of Britain's most glamorous couples, actor Hugh Grant and socialite Jemima Khan, have decided to go their separate ways, the US website People.com reported on Friday.

“Hugh and Jemima have decided to split amicably,” Grant's publicist Robert Garlock said on the website.

The news came the same day that Grant's ex-girlfriend, British model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, and Indian businessman Arun Nayar told officials of their plan to wed.

Grant's long relationship with Hurley ended in 2000.

For the last three years Grant, 46, has been dating the 33-year-old Khan, the ex-wife of cricketer Imran Khan and daughter of the late Eurosceptic tycoon Sir James Goldsmith.

Grant, famous for playing fancy-free cads in films like `Four Weddings and a Funeral’ or `Bridget Jones’, appeared content with Jemima Khan when he spoke at a press conference in London last month for his latest movie.

“It's true that I have taken a long time to settle down,” Grant said. “My life is very nice now.”

His latest movie, `Music and Lyrics’, is a romantic comedy about an over-the-hill rock star who eventually finds love in mid-life.

The Daily Mail newspaper quoted a friend of Jemima Khan as saying: “They both finally realised it was over.

“When Jemima told Hugh, it didn't surprise him — it wasn't a bolt from the blue — the relationship was effectively dead.”

“She feels the relationship has run its course. She felt the relationship was probably never really sufficiently stable to move towards marriage,” she said.

“Jemima has been hugely, hugely fond of Hugh and there's absolutely nobody else involved on either side.

There’s great sadness on her part but no acrimony, it is a dead relationship as far as she is concerned,” the friend said.

HURLEY-NAYAR UNION: Hurley is to marry Nayar at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, southwestern England, according to a legal document on public display at the registry office in nearby Cheltenham.

Hurley and Nayar, who have invited British footballer David Beckham and singer Sir Elton John to the celebrations, are reportedly planning a celebrity-packed second ceremony in India after their British nuptials.—AFP