The Royal Air Force Club was honoured to welcome Her Majesty The Queen on 29 August 2023 to unveil a portrait of Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan, GC, a heroine of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). 

The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied countries during the Second World War. Noor was recruited in 1943 from the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and was one of only two members of the WAAF to be awarded the George Cross (GC). Alongside the Victoria Cross, the GC is the highest award bestowed for acts of the greatest heroism, or for the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.

Noor was the first woman SOE operator to be infiltrated into France, and was landed by Lysander aircraft on 16 June 1943. During 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 because she did not wish to leave her French comrades without communications and she hoped also to rebuild the Group. The Gestapo had a full description of Noor, who they knew only by her code name "Madeleine", and in October 1943 she was captured by them. Despite brutal interrogation she refused to give any  information, either as to her work or her colleagues. She was imprisoned in Gestapo HQ, during which time she made two unsuccessful attempts at escape, and was then sent to Germany for so called "safe custody". She was considered to be a particularly dangerous and uncooperative prisoner. On 12 September, she was moved to Dachau Concentration Camp where she was subjected to further brutal treatment, then taken to the crematorium and shot. Khan displayed the most conspicuous courage, both moral and physical, over a period of more than 12 months.

During the visit, Her Majesty met Shaik Mahmood, Noor Inayat Khan’s cousin, before unveiling the portrait by Paul Brason, a former President of the Society of Portrait Painters. His works are held in many public and private collections, including the National Portrait Gallery.

The portrait now hangs opposite the stained glass window which celebrates Women in the Royal Air Force (RAF).  This was unveiled by The Late Queen Elizabeth II in 2018. The stained glass window highlights female roles in the RAF since its inception in 1918. Queen Camilla named this room formally as the “Noor Inayat Khan Room”.

Following the portrait unveiling, Queen Camilla joined a Reception in the Sovereigns Room attended by members of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Air Force Club and serving female RAF personnel representing the Royal Air Force Stations of which Her Majesty is Honorary Air Commodore, and other areas of the RAF.  Her Majesty was also presented with a book “The Spy Princess – The Life of Noor Inayat Khan”, a biography of Noor Khan, by the author Shrabani Basu. 

It was a privilege to host this special event to honour the extraordinary courage of Noor Inayat Khan.