British Queen Camilla has unveiled a new portrait of Indian-born spy Noor Inayat Khan.
London:
Britain’s Queen Camilla has unveiled a new portrait of Indian-born spy and descendant of Tipu Sultan, Noor Inayat Khan, at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Club here in honor of her sacrifice as an undercover agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). ) during the Second World War.
The 76-year-old senior royal also formally named a room in the RAF Club on Tuesday as the ‘Noor Inayat Khan Room’, where the portrait hangs opposite a stained glass window celebrating women in the RAF, which was inaugurated by her late mother . in-laws Queen Elizabeth II in 2018.
Noor was a member of the RAF’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) when she was recruited into the SOE in 1942 and became one of only two members of the WAAF to be awarded the George Cross (GC) – the highest award bestowed on her was granted. acts of the greatest heroism, or of the most conspicuous valor in circumstances of extreme danger.
“It was a proud moment for the Queen to unveil Noor Inayat Khan’s portrait at the RAF Club,” said British-Indian writer Shrabani Basu, who presented a copy of her biography of Noor – ‘Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’ – to the Queen at the unveiling ceremony.
“It was a privilege for me to tell her story. This beautiful portrait will now be seen by many young men and women for generations. Noor’s story will never be forgotten,” she said.
Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was born in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian Sufi saint father and an American mother. Noor moved to London at a young age before settling in Paris for her school years. After the fall of France during World War II, she fled to England and joined the WAAF.
At the end of 1942 she was recruited into the SOE, established to carry out espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in the occupied territories during the war.
Her new portrait at the RAF Club was unveiled in the presence of her family members, including 95-year-old cousin Shaikh Mahmood and cousin Pir Zia Inayat Khan.
The portrait was created by celebrated British artist Paul Brason, former president of the Society of Portrait Painters. He based his creation on the few available footage of Noor Inayat Khan to capture her determination as an undercover cop, who refused to crack under brutal Nazi interrogation before being shot by the Gestapo in Germany’s Dachau concentration camp in 1944 with the word ” freedom’. ‘ on her lips.
Noor was the first female SOE operator to infiltrate France and was landed by Lysander aircraft on June 16, 1943. In the following weeks, the Gestapo arrested most of the Paris Resistance group in which she worked. Despite the danger, Noor refused. to return to England as she did not want to leave her French comrades without communication and she also hoped to rebuild the group,” the RAF Club said in a statement.
“The Gestapo had a full description of Noor, whom they only knew under her code name ‘Madeleine’, and she was captured by them in October 1943. Despite brutal interrogations, she refused to give any information, either about her work or about her colleagues She was imprisoned in Gestapo headquarters, during which time she made two failed escape attempts, and was then sent to Germany for so-called ‘safe custody’. She was considered a particularly dangerous and unwilling prisoner,” the report said.
Noor was awarded the GC posthumously for displaying the most conspicuous gallantry, both moral and physical, over a period of more than twelve months.
Established in 1918, the RAF Club is a private members’ club and registered charity providing RAF officers and their families with a home away from home. The Club has approximately 24,000 officers and former serving officers of the Royal Air Force and their families as members.
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