WW2 secret agent who trained Allied spies to resist honeytrap plots buried with full military honours
A WORLD War Two secret agent who trained Allied spies to resist honeytrap plots has been buried with full military honours.
Noreen Riols, who tested recruits by trying to seduce them into spilling secrets, died aged 98 earlier this month.
Her funeral was held on Monday at the Church Maisons Laffitte near Paris, her home for the past 70 years.
Flagbearers formed a guard of honour as her coffin, draped in the French tricolore, was carried to its final resting place while a bugler played Last Post.
Her son, Yves-Michel Riols, said: “Noreen’s passing is that of a generation that we owe so much to.”
The final salute marked the end of an extraordinary life, which included spells as a nurse, a BBC correspondent, novelist and author.
Naval officer’s daughter Noreen was born in Malta and grew up in London.
Fluent in French, she joined the Special Operations Executive, based at Beaulieu in the New Forest.
The glamorous 18-year-old would meet recruits at a hotel in Bournemouth, ply them with drink and see if they would talk about their work.
Those who kept mum were deemed suitable for work behind enemy lines.
She once said: “I hated it. I almost prayed that they wouldn’t talk. It was awful to have to betray them.” After the war, she trained as a nurse in Romania, then moved to Paris to work for the BBC in 1956.
She married a Frenchman and had five children. Her books included a memoir about her life in the SOE.
The great-gran was awarded the Legion D’Honneur, became an MBE in 2023 and was pictured with world leaders at the 80th D-Day anniversary celebrations in June.