New MI5 files show Queen Elizabeth II was unaware of a Soviet spy in her palace for nearly a decade
London: So, it turns out Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark about a pretty big scandal during her reign. Newly released MI5 files show that for almost ten years, she had no idea that Anthony Blunt, a member of her royal household, was actually a Soviet double agent.
According to the BBC, Blunt confessed to being a senior officer for the Russians during World War II back in 1964. But the Queen didn’t find out until nine years later. Blunt, who was an art historian, worked at Buckingham Palace for decades as the Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures.
He had been under suspicion for a while before he finally admitted the truth. The MI5 files, now at the National Archives, include his full confession. Just before he was set to retire at 65, Blunt came clean to MI5 interrogator Arthur Martin, who promised him immunity from prosecution.
During the interrogation, Blunt seemed pretty uneasy, taking long pauses as he debated how to answer questions. He confirmed he had worked with the Soviets during the war and kept in touch with Russian intelligence afterward.
At the time, only the Queen’s private secretary, Martin Charteris, and his deputy, Philip Moore, knew about Blunt’s confession. Charteris thought it was best not to tell the Queen, believing it would only add to her worries since she wasn’t fond of Blunt and rarely saw him.
It wasn’t until Blunt fell ill in March 1973 that Elizabeth was finally informed about his past as a Soviet spy. They wanted to prepare her in case the media went wild after his death. When she learned the news, she took it calmly, recalling that he had been under suspicion back in the 1950s.
Blunt’s spy activities were publicly revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1979, leading to him being stripped of his knighthood, though he was never prosecuted. He passed away in 1983 at 75, while Queen Elizabeth continued to reign until her death in September 2022 at 96. Throughout her 70 years on the throne, she never publicly addressed the Blunt scandal.
