Sir Anthony Blunt, a Soviet spy and former Surveyor of Queen Elizabeth’s pictures.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t told details of her long-time art adviser’s double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials didn’t want to add to her worries, newly declassified documents reveal.

The files about royal art historian Anthony Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency MI5 released 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 U.K. intelligence establishment.

Mr. Blunt, who worked at Buckingham Palace as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was under suspicion for years before he finally confessed in 1964 that, as a senior MI5 officer during World War II, he had passed secret information to Soviet agents.

In one of the newly released files, an MI5 officer notes that Mr. Blunt said he felt “profound relief” at unburdening himself. In return for the information he provided, Mr. Blunt was allowed to keep his job, his knighthood and his social standing — and the Queen was apparently kept in the dark.

In 1972, her private secretary, Martin Charteris, told MI5 chief Michael Hanley that “the Queen did not know and he saw no advantage in telling her about it now; it would only add to her worries and there was nothing that could done about him.”

The government decided to tell the monarch in 1973, when Mr. Blunt was ill, fearing a media uproar once Mr. Blunt died and journalists were able to publish stories without fear of libel suits.

Mr. Charteris reported that “she 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 says in the official history of MI5 that the Queen had previously been told about Mr. Blunt in “general terms.”

Mr. Blunt was publicly unmasked as a spy by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons in November 1979. He was finally stripped of his knighthood, but never prosecuted, and died in 1983 at the age of 75.

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, entitled “MI5: Official Secrets,” opening at the National Archives 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. 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 Mr. Philby’s typed confession and a transcript of his discussion with Mr. Elliott.

In it, Mr. Philby admitted he had betrayed Konstantin Volkov, a KGB officer who tried to defect to the West in 1945, bringing with him details of moles inside British intelligence — including Mr. Philby himself. As a result of Mr. Philby’s intervention, Volkov was abducted in Istanbul, taken back to Moscow and executed.

Mr. Elliott reported that Mr. Philby said that 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,” Mr. Philby said, according to the transcript. “But the overruling inspiration was the other side.”

Mr. Philby told Mr. Elliott that the choice faced now that he was exposed was “between suicide and prosecution.” Instead, he fled to Moscow, where he died in 1988.

The Cambridge spies have inspired myriad books, plays movies and TV shows, including the 2023 series “A Spy Among Friends,” starring Guy Pearce as Philby and Damian Lewis as Elliott. Blunt featured in a 2019 episode of “The Crown,” played by Samuel West.

Antrim:

A new statue of Queen Elizabeth II has met mixed reviews, with one non-plussed critic assessing that it looks more like “an old lady buying potatoes at the market” than Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

The statue of the queen, who died in September 2022 aged 96, was unveiled last week in Antrim Castle Gardens park in Northern Ireland, and also features her husband Prince Philip and two of her beloved corgi dogs.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council said at the unveiling that the work captures “Her Majesty in a dignified pose, reflecting her grace, steadfastness and lifelong dedication to public service”.

The local authority posted images of artist Anto Brennan’s work on its social media sites but switched off comments after adverse comments.

One online commentator even likened it to Robin Williams’s elderly female housekeeper Mrs Doubtfire in the 1993 Hollywood comedy-drama.

But while the council conceded that art can prompt “diverse opinions”, it said it was “delighted” with the “generally positive” response.

Walking his dog at the gardens on Wednesday, Ivor Ritchie, 67, called the sculpture “terrible”. “It looks no more like her than the man-in-the-moon,” he said.

“I just don’t think it looks like her face,” added another passer-by, Eddie Smyth, a 52-year-old labourer also from Antrim, a half-hour drive northwest of Belfast.

English tourist Lorraine Barker, 58, agreed. “In fact the corgis are better than the queen I’d say,” she told AFP.

The sculpture, one of the first of the queen in the UK since her death, is attracting increasing attention — and curious visitors to the 400-year-old gardens.

“We came over to see it as we’d heard people talking about it,” said Noel Wilson, 62, who drove from the nearby town of Ballymena with his wife Dorothy, 61, to have a look.

Hungarian tourist Gabor Laszlo, 50, struggled to see the queen’s likeness but conceded: “Prince Philip is OK.”

The queen, who ruled for 70 years, is depicted in a country jacket and tweed skirt, wearing a headscarf and carrying her trademark handbag.

Laszlo was unimpressed, saying it made her look “like an old lady at the market buying some potatoes”.

Yet the depiction still has its fans.

“It’s a really good replica of how warmly and fondly she is remembered by the British public, I think it’s an excellent job,” said English visitor Stephen Barker.

For 90-year-old Canadian tourist Roy Hill the work is “a wonderful depiction, very impressive”.

“It brings back a lot of memories, I am old enough to remember Queen Elizabeth as a young person, at the coronation,” he said.

Another local out for a walk in the park, Muriel McCandless, 81, expressed sympathy with the sculptor, who has yet to comment on the controversy.

“I actually think it’s quite good,” she laughed.

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London:

The UK government announced on Sunday early stage plans to erect a permanent memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II, alongside a national legacy programme in her honour, in 2026.

The “fitting tribute” to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who died in September last year aged 96 after 70 years on the throne, will be unveiled to coincide with what would have been her 100th birthday.

A newly-formed entity — the Queen Elizabeth memorial committee — will consider and recommend proposals for the memorial and legacy programme, government department the Cabinet Office said.

The independent body — to be headed by Robin Janvrin, the late sovereign’s former private secretary — will consider her life, decades of public service and the causes she supported, it added.

Janvrin, a member of parliament’s unelected House of Lords chamber, called his appointment “an honour”.

“It will be a unique challenge to try to capture for future generations Her Late Majesty’s extraordinary contribution to our national life throughout her very long reign,” he added.

Senior royal, political and other figures and experts are set to be appointed to the committee to develop ideas and bring their recommendations to her heir, King Charles III, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The committee will also seek suggestions from the public during the preparatory process.

The government said it will support the proposals and consider funding options.

“Queen Elizabeth II was our longest reigning monarch and greatest public servant,” Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said.

“Lord Janvrin will now begin the important work of designing a fitting tribute to her legacy of service to our nation and the Commonwealth.”

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)