They bear the most unfortunate acronym in the British military, but the Fanys, the women of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, have emerged into the limelight.

The unit, from which the wartime Special Operations Executive drew its best female secret agents, formed a guard of honour for the royal premiere of the British film Charlotte Gray, which tells the story of one of their number in occupied France.

Based on Sebastian Faulks's bestselling novel, the film stars the Australian Cate Blanchett, who was introduced to the Prince of Wales and Nancy Wake, 89, an SOE agent who began her military career like the film's heroine in the Fanys, the only army unit in which women were issued with firearms.

Nancy fought with the resistance and her French husband, Henri, was tortured and murdered by the Gestapo when he refused to give her away. Shot partly in France, the film is about a Scottish woman who goes in search of her RAF lover. Although she is officially parachuted into France on a courier mission, Charlotte Gray becomes entangled with the local resistance leader and stays on to fight and to protect Jewish children whose parents have been sent to death camps.

The film is directed by Australian Gillian Armstrong.