Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Hannah Graf () is a former officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and a transgender rights activist. Graf was a captain in the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...

and the highest-ranking transgender officer in the British Army, overseeing a company of a hundred soldiers. After she came out as transgender in 2013, she advised the army on transgender issues.

Biography

While training as an officer at the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

, Graf openly identified as a

gay man Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included '' inverts'' and '' uranians''. Gay men conti ...

, however she felt the identification was "never particularly satisfactory" and "never found much solace in the gay male community". In 2012, she was stationed at the

Camp Bastion Camp Shorabak (formerly Camp Bastion) is a former British Army airbase, located northwest of the city of Lashkargah in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The camp was situated in a remote desert area, far from population centres. The camp was buil ...

airbase in Afghanistan. A captain in the

, she oversaw a company of a hundred soldiers. After returning from a

tour of duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

in Afghanistan, in 2013, she began living openly as a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

and became the highest ranking transgender person in the British Army. Although her colleagues were supportive of her decision to transition, she felt unsure how others would view her after her transition. After coming out, she additionally served as an advisor for transgender issues in the army. Graf is a patron of the charity

Mermaids In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

and served an ambassador for LGBT Sport Cymru. She received an honorary fellowship from

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

in 2016 for her work with the two organisations. In 2018, she was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...

for "services to the LGBTQ community in the military". After receiving the honour at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

, she voiced her support for the British Army's "embrace" of transgender individuals and criticised recent bans of

transgender personnel in the United States military Transgender people have served or sought to serve in the United States military (U.S. military) throughout its history. As of May 8, 2025, transgender individuals are banned from enlisting in and serving in the U.S. military, except under narrow ...

. The LGBT rights organisation Stonewall named Graf their "Trans Role Model of the Year" in 2019. She met actor and filmmaker

Jake Graf Jake Graf is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and transgender rights activist. Graf specialises in short films dealing with transgender issues in an effort to normalise queer and trans experiences to a wider, more mainstream audience. ...

, who is also transgender, in December 2015. The couple announced their engagement in 2017 and married the following year. In 2020, the couple had their first child; their experience as transgender parents was broadcast later that year in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentary ''Our Baby: A Modern Miracle''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graf, Hannah Living people 21st-century British Army personnel Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers British Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Members of the Order of the British Empire British transgender women Transgender military personnel British LGBTQ military personnel Women in the British Army Year of birth missing (living people)