Krystyna Skarbek, GM, OBE, Croix de guerre (Polish pronunciation: [krɨˈstɨna ˈskarbɛk]; born 1 May 1908^[1] in Warsaw, Poland; died 15 June 1952 in London,England) was a Polish Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent. She became celebrated especially for her daring exploits in intelligence and irregular-warfare missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France.

She became a British agent months before the SOE was founded in July 1940 and was one of the longest-serving of all Britain’s wartime women agents. Her resourcefulness and success have been credited with influencing the organization’s policy of recruiting increasing numbers of women.^[2]

In 1941, she began using the nom de guerre Christine Granville, which she legally adopted on naturalisation as a British citizen in February 1947.^[3]

Although there is no reliable evidence that she was a friend of Ian Fleming, Skarbek is said, by some, to have been the inspiration for Bond girls Tatiana Romanova and Vesper Lynd.^[4]

-Stabbed to death by a jealous lover in a hotel in June 1952.