In 1939, a Sufi princess living in France released a small book of children’s stories based on the Jataka Tales. Noor Inayat Khan was a dreamy and thoughtful writer, from a family of noble lineage – her great-great-great grandfather was Tipu Sultan.
Her mother was a poet and her brother, a trained classical musician. Both her father and her other brother were prominent figures in the international Sufi order. But it’s Tipu who has the most in common with Inayat; where he fought the British invaders, she fought the Nazis in Occupied France.
Until 1940, Inayat was just a dreamy girl who had studied harp at the Paris Conservatoire, and children’s psychology at Sorbonne University. The invasion and occupation of France by the Nazis changed everything. Inayat searched her skills for weapons and found that speaking fluent French made her a valuable asset for the underground war effort.
Inayat became a Special Operations Executive (SOE) for the Allies. In other words, a spy, tasked with coordinating covert radio signals – as part of a womens-only wing of the Allied Forces. For a brief period, Inayat was the best spy in France. But betrayal cut short her fascinating journey.
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