Noor Inayat Khan, a descendent of the 18th-century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, has become the only Indian-origin woman to be honoured with a commemorative postage stamp by France for her role in the French Resistance as an undercover British agent during the Second World War.
The French postal service, La Poste, honoured Noor with a stamp issued to honour the “Figures of the Resistance” who fought against Nazi Germany. She is among a dozen war heroes and heroines chosen on the set of stamps issued this month to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
“I am delighted that France has honoured Noor Inayat Khan with a postage stamp, especially as it comes on this important 80th anniversary of the end of the war,” said Shrabani Basu, the London-based author of Noor’s biography – ‘Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’. “Noor sacrificed her life in the fight against fascism. She grew up in Paris, joined the war effort in England, and it is wonderful to see her face on a postage stamp which will be posted by ordinary people in France,” she said.
Each stamp is in the form of an etching taken from a photograph, with the stamp on Noor showcasing her in her British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) uniform. “Britain honoured Noor in 2014 to mark the centenary of her birth. She now has a stamp in her honour issued by Britain and France. It is time that India, the country of her ancestors, honours her with a postage stamp too,” said Basu.