Urgent.. Secret MI5 files reveal the truth about the presence of the Russian spy in the Queen’s palace

Recently declassified documents revealed that Queen Elizabeth II was unaware of details of her long-time art advisor’s double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials did not want to add to her concerns.

 

< p>The files on royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a large trove of documents released by the British intelligence agency MI5 on Tuesday by the British National Archives. 

These files shed light on a spy ring linked to the University of Cambridge in Blunt, who worked at Buckingham Palace as a surveyor of the Queen’s paintings, was suspected for years before finally admitting in 1964 that as a senior officer In the British intelligence service “MI5” During World War II, he passed secret information to the Russian spy agency the KGB.

In one recently disclosed file, an MI6 officer notes that Blunt said he felt " "with deep comfort" After relieving himself of the burden of the information he provided.

 In exchange for the information he provided, Blunt was allowed to keep his job, title, and social status – and it seems that the Queen did not know about this.

In 1972, the Queen’s Private Secretary, Martin Charteris, head of the British intelligence service MI5, said: Michael Hanley said that “the Queen did not know about it and he saw no point in telling her now; This would only increase her fears and there was nothing she could do about it.”

The government decided to tell the Queen in 1973, when Blunt was ill, for fear of causing a media frenzy once he died and journalists were able to publish stories without fear. Of the defamation suits.

Charteris stated that she “took the whole matter very calmly and without surprise,” and “remembered that it had long been suspected.” In the early 1950s. 

Historian Christopher Andrew says in The Official History of the British Intelligence Service that the Queen had been previously informed about Blunt “in general terms.”

In November 1979, the Chief of Staff revealed Minister Margaret Thatcher publicly revealed Blunt’s identity as a spy in the House of Commons. He was eventually stripped of his knighthood, but was never tried, and he died in 1983 at the age of 75.

Files held by British intelligence services usually remain secret for several decades, but the intelligence services are moving towards… Towards revealing more about its counter-espionage efforts over the years.

 Some of the recently revealed documents will be presented in an exhibition entitled “MI5: Official Secrets”, which will open In the National Archives in London later this year.

Two Cambridge spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, fled to Russia in 1951. 

A third, Kim Philby, continued As evidence of his duplicity increased, his friend and fellow MI6 officer, Nicholas Elliott, confronted him in Beirut in January 1963.

The declassified files include Philby’s printed confessions and a transcript of his discussion with Elliott.

In this letter, Philby admitted that he had betrayed Konstantin Volkov, the KGB officer who He attempted to defect to the West in 1945, taking with him details of spies within British intelligence – including Philby himself. 

As a result of Philby’s intervention, Volkov was kidnapped in Istanbul, brought back to Moscow and executed.

Elliot reported that Philby said that if he had his life again he would probably act the same way.

Philby said, according to the transcript, "I truly felt enormous loyalty to MI6. I was treated very well there, and I made really great friends there. But the prevailing inspiration was from the other side.”

Philippi Elliott explained that the choice he faces now after it has been revealed is “between suicide and prosecution.” Instead, he fled to Moscow, where he died in 1988.

The Cambridge Spies have inspired countless books, plays, films and television shows, including the series " A Spy Among Friends " For 2023, starring Guy Pearce as Philby and Damian Lewis as Elliot. Blunt appeared in a 2019 episode of the series " The Crown ", played by Samuel West.

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