The United Kingdom's Queen Camilla on Tuesday unveiled a portrait of Indian-origin spy Noor Inayat Khan, a descendant of Tipu Sultan, at the Royal Air Force (RAF) club to honour her services and sacrifice as an undercover agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the World War II.
Queen Camilla also named a room at the RAF Club as "Noor Inayat Khan Room", where the portrait is placed opposite a window celebrate the contribution of women in the RAF. Noor served as a member of RAF's Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and is one of the only two WAAF members to be bestowed with the George Cross (GC) - Britain's highest award for acts of heroism.
"It was a proud moment to have the Queen unveil the portrait of Noor Inayat Khan at the RAF Club. For me, it has been a privilege to tell her story," said British Indian author Shrabani Basu, who wrote a biography of Noor.
About Noor Inayat Khan
Noor-ul-Nisa was born in Moscow in 1914 and moved to London at a young age. She settled in Paris for her school years, but was forced to escape during the fall of France by the Nazi Germany amidst the Second World War. She escaped to London and joined the SOE.
She was recruited into the SOE in 1942 to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied territories during the war. She served as an undercover agent for the British forces and was captured by German forces. She faced a brutal Nazi interrogation and was shot dead by the Gestapo at Dachau concentration camp in 1944.
"Despite the danger, Noor refused to return to England because she did not wish to leave her French comrades without communications and she hoped also to rebuild the Group,” the RAF Club said in a statement.
The club also noted that she was considered a particularly dangerous and uncooperative prisoner and refused to give any information during her brutal interrogation. She was known to German forces as 'Madeleine'.
Noor was awarded the GC posthumously for displaying the most conspicuous courage after a year of her death.
Noor's ancestry
Notably, her ancestor Tipu Sultan was an influential ruler of the kingdom of Mysore, who resisted and fought against the British East India Company forces in southern India. Tipu Sultan is known as the first freedom fighter of India and allied with the forces of former French emperor Napolean Bonaparte to defeat the British.
Tipu Sultan became a major adversary for the British forces in the earlier days of their colonisation. He was killed in 1799 while fighting against the British forces in his capital Srirangapatna.
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