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Vilayat was Noor's closest sibling. Two years younger, he was born in London. Like all the Inayat Khan children, Vilayat was a musician, playing the cello and the violin. After fleeing France in 1940 with their mother and younger sister Claire, both Noor and Vilayat joined Britain's armed forces.
Oxford-educated Vilayat joined the Royal Air Force initially (which prompted Noor to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) but because of poor eyesight he transferred to the Royal Navy, working on minesweepers and helping to clear the beaches in Normandy before D-Day.
Following Noor's disappearance in France, Vilayat searched tirelessly for his sister and it was partly through his dogged determination to find the truth that the real facts emerged.
After the war, Vilayat returned to the family house in Suresnes, near Paris, where he continued his father’s teachings in the mystical tradition of the East, eventually becoming head of the Sufi Order International.
Throughout his life he was haunted by the memory of what had happened to his sister after she had been betrayed and captured by the Germans. In June 1996, for his eightieth birthday, Vilayat chose Dachau Concentration Camp to conduct a massed choir in memory of Noor, who had died there over 50 years earlier.
Vilayat Inayat Khan died on 17 June 2004.
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