According to newly released MI5 files, Queen Elizabeth II was kept unaware for nearly a decade about Anthony Blunt being a Soviet double agent, despite his confession in 1964.
Blunt, who served as Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, admitted his connections to the Soviets during an interrogation, all while the Queen remained uninformed by her aides at Buckingham Palace.
Michael Hanley, MI5's then director general, noted that Martin Charteris believed telling the Queen about Blunt’s espionage would only add to her worries, making her more isolated.
The files reveal that the Queen learned of Blunt's true identity as a Soviet agent only when he fell ill in 1973, marking nearly a decade of secrecy.
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