Queen Elizabeth II did not know that her art adviser Anthony Blunt was a Soviet spy. (AP: National Archives Security Service files)
In short:
Queen Elizabeth II was not told about her long-time art adviser's double life as a Soviet spy, newly declassified documents reveal.
The files about royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency MI5.
Britain's National Archives also released files regarding a spy ring linked to Cambridge University in the 1930s.
Queen Elizabeth II was not told about her long-time art adviser's double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials did not want to worry her, newly declassified documents reveal.
The files about royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency MI5 released on Tuesday by Britain's National Archives.
They shed new light on a spy ring linked to Cambridge University in the 1930s, whose members spilled secrets to the Soviet Union from the heart of the UK intelligence establishment.
Blunt, who worked at Buckingham Palace as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was under suspicion for years before he finally confessed in 1964.
He admitted he had passed secret information to Russia's KGB spy agency while he was a senior MI5 officer during World War II
In one of the newly released files, an MI5 officer notes that Blunt said he felt "profound relief" at unburdening himself.
Blunt was under suspicion for years before he finally confessed in 1964. (AP: National Archives Security Service files)
Blunt was allowed to keep his job, his knighthood and his social standing — and the queen was apparently kept in the dark — in return for information he provided.
In 1972, the queen's then private secretary Martin Charteris told MI5 chief Michael Hanley that the monarch "did not know and he saw no advantage in telling her about it now".
He said it would only "add to her worries and there was nothing that could be done about him."
Queen took the news 'calmly'
When Blunt became ill the following year, the government decided to tell the monarch due to fears around a media uproar once Blunt died and journalists were able to publish stories without fear of legal suits.
Charteris reported the queen "took it all very calmly and without surprise" and "remembered that he had been under suspicion way back" in the early 1950s.
Historian Christopher Andrew said the queen had previously been told about Blunt in "general terms" in the official history of MI5.
Blunt was publicly unmasked as a spy by prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979.
While he was never prosecuted, he was finally stripped of his knighthood and he died in 1983 at the age of 75.
New details on Philby's confession
Files held by Britain’s secretive intelligence services usually remain classified for several decades, but the agencies are inching toward more openness.
Some of the newly released documents will feature in an exhibition called MI5: Official Secrets in London later this year.
Two of the Cambridge spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, fled to Russia in 1951.
A third, Kim Philby, continued to work for foreign intelligence agency MI6 despite falling under suspicion.
Philby worked for foreign intelligence agency MI6 despite falling under suspicion. (Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
As evidence of his duplicity mounted, he was confronted in Beirut in January 1963 by his friend and fellow MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott.
The declassified files include Philby’s typed confession and a transcript of his discussion with Elliott, whereby Philby admits he had betrayed KGB officer Konstantin Volkov.
In 1945, Volkov tried to defect to the West and brought with him details of moles inside British intelligence – including information about Philby.
As a result of Philby’s intervention, Volkov was abducted in Istanbul and taken back to Moscow and executed.
Declassified files include Philby’s typed confession and a transcript of his discussion with Elliott. (Harold Clements/ Hulton/ Getty Images)
Elliott reported that Philby said if he had his life to lead again, he would probably have behaved in the same way.
"I really did feel a tremendous loyalty to MI6. I was treated very, very well in it and I made some really marvellous friends there," Philby said, according to the transcript.
"But the overruling inspiration was the other side."
Philby fled to Moscow where he died in 1988, telling Elliott he faced the choice “between suicide and prosecution".
The Cambridge spies have inspired myriad of books, plays, movies and TV shows.
AP
