Queen Camilla unveiled a new portrait of British Indian spy Noor Inayat Khan at the Royal Air Force (RAF) Club in London this week and also named a room in memory of the undercover agent who lost her life behind enemy lines during the Second World War.
The portrait now hangs in the “Noor Inayat Khan Room” opposite a stained-glass window celebrating women in the RAF, which was inaugurated by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. Noor was a member of RAF’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) when she was recruited to the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1942.
Shrabani Basu, the author who presented her biography ‘Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’ to the Queen, said: “For me, it has been a privilege to tell her story. This wonderful portrait will now be seen by many young men and women for generations. Noor's story will never be forgotten."
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Born Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan in Moscow in 1914 to an Indian Sufi saint father and American mother, Noor was a descendent of the 18th century Indian ruler Tipu Sultan – known as the Tiger of Mysore for his bravery. She moved to London at a young age before settling in Paris for her school years. Following the fall of France during the Second World War, she escaped to England and joined the WAAF. In late 1942, she was recruited into the SOE – created to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied territories during the war.
Her new portrait at the RAF Club was unveiled in the presence of her relatives, including 95-year-old cousin Shaikh Mahmood and nephew Pir Zia Inayat Khan.
The portrait has been created by celebrated British artist Paul Brason, a former President of the Society of Portrait Painters. He based his creation on the few available images of Noor Inayat Khan to capture her steely resolve as an undercover agent, who refused to crack under brutal Nazi interrogation before being shot by the Gestapo at Dachau concentration camp in Germany in 1944.
Noor went on to become one of only two members of the WAAF to be awarded the George Cross (GC) – the highest award bestowed for acts of the greatest heroism, or for the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.
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*Info: Royal Air Force Club
