Noor Inayat Khan – The Spy Princess

Noor Inayat Khan was a Second World War SOE agent, also famously known as the “Spy Princess”.

Noor was born under the shadows of the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Her father was a Sufi saint and her mother an American. Her father had followers all over the world and he was in Moscow to preach his teachings in the royal court. When the First World War broke out her family moved to Great Britain. They then moved to Paris, France permanently. They were gifted a house by one of her father’s followers in Suresnes in the outskirts of Paris. They named it as “Fazil mahal” meaning “Home of Love”.

Enheduanna

Enheduanna was an ancient high priestess; the very first identified author and one of the earliest named women in history!

Enheduanna lived around  between 2285 – 2250 BCE. She was a princess, the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad. The name we know her by means ‘High Priestess, ornament of the sky/god’, and was given to her when her father appointed her the En-Priestess (high priestess) of the central temple in the Sumerian city of Ur (in modern day Iraq). We don’t know what her real name was.

Empress Dowager Cixi

Empress Dowager Cixi began her ascent to rule when she was only 16, during a time where female names were too insignificant to be recorded; she was known as ‘the woman of the Nala family’. She was taken in as a concubine by the Xianfeng Emperor in 1852, during a routine selection.

Cixi went down in history to some as a ruthless killer; a woman who was selfish, strict and cunning. Traits which, had they been describing a man, would not be given a second thought. Cixi was, however, a clever woman with an array of talents and who ruled the Qing Dynasty when her husband died.

Princess Pingyang – ‘No Ordinary Woman’

Princess Pingyang was decidedly more fearsome than her name might suggest. She led an army that helped to establish one of China’s greatest dynasties, and as her father said, ‘she was no ordinary woman’.

Born in 600 AD, Pingyang was the daughter of Li Yuan. Li was born a peasant and had risen through the ranks of the army to become a military commander. The Emperor at the time was the second leader of the Sui Dynasty and was known as Yangdi. Yangdi was not a popular ruler. The people of China saw him as a villain and grew increasingly unhappy with his rule, the things he spend money on and the rising taxes. The whispers of rebellion began to stir as more and more people grew opposed to him.