MI5 documents reveal Queen was kept in the dark about palace traitor for years

Queen Elizabeth II was not officially informed for nearly a decade that one of her most senior courtiers had confessed to being a Soviet spy, according to newly released MI5 files.

Art critic Anthony Blunt served as reviewer of Queen’s Pictures for decades, curating the official Royal Art Collection, and in 1964 admitted he had been a Soviet agent since the 1930s.

Documents released by MI5 show that although Blunt admitted to them that he had spied for the Russians during the Second World War, the late Queen herself was not officially told about it for almost nine years.

When she was told the full story in the 1970s, she was characteristically nonchalant, taking it all “very calmly and without surprise,” according to declassified files released to the National Archives.

The decision to formally inform the Queen comes amid growing concern in Whitehall that the truth will inevitably emerge following the death of Blunt, who was seriously ill with cancer. Journalists had already investigated this story, and they were no longer bound by the fear of defamation.

Blunt first came under suspicion in 1951, when fellow spies Guy Burgess and Donald McLean fled to the Soviet Union.

He had been a close friend of Burgess since their time studying together at Cambridge in the 1930s – part of the so-called Cambridge Five spy group.

During World War II, Blunt worked for MI5, after 1951 he was interrogated 11 times by members of the Security Service, but always denied espionage.

Then the American Michael Straight told the FBI that he was recruited by Blunt himself as a Russian agent.

In April 1964, MI5 investigator Arthur Martin confronted Blunt and promised him immunity from prosecution.

His full confession is included in these files for the first time. In addition to admitting his work during the war, he admitted to being in contact with Russian intelligence after the war.

Blunt said he met a Russian named Peter before Burgess and McLean left, but he couldn’t remember why. He said that the so-called Peter also encouraged him to escape, but he refused.

The coroner said Blunt was “uncomfortable” when he spoke, with each question “followed by a long pause” while he “seemed to be debating with himself how to answer it.”

Despite Blunt’s excellent position, few outside MI5 were told of this admission. The Home Secretary and his most senior civil servants have been briefed.

The Queen’s private secretary was told only that Blunt was involved and that MI5 intended to question him.

It was agreed that if Blunt became seriously ill, she would be informed officially, because it might trigger press coverage of his past.

In March 1973 another note records that the Queen’s private secretary spoke to her about the Blunt case. It says: “She took all this very calmly and without surprise: she remembered that he had been under suspicion since the Burgess/McLean affair.’

Miranda Carter, Blunt’s biographer, said her “premonition” was made informally to Elizabeth II some time after 1965.

She believes that the officials “wanted to maintain the veil of plausible deniability.” The fact that the monarch took the news “calmly and without surprise” suggests to Carter that she must have known.

Blunt’s past was finally exposed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a House of Commons statement in 1979. He died in 1983 at the age of 75 after being stripped of his knighthood.

• Cambridge spy Kim Philby has said he would do it all over again after finally admitting he was a Russian agent for years

• Blunt feared that his KGB superior would become violent if he refused to join his fellow spies Burgess and McLean and fled to Russia

• Film star Dirk Bogard has been warned by MI5 that he could be targeted by the KGB for gay ‘catch’

• MI5’s chief investigator was embarrassed by Philby, who admitted he could not determine whether he was a Soviet spy

Unlike government agencies, MI5 is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. It releases its archives at will, and some files are partially deleted.

Some of the documents released today will be featured in an upcoming exhibition at the National Archives.

MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum said: “While much of our work must remain secret, this exhibition reflects our ongoing commitment to be open wherever we can.”