Elizabeth II lived for nine years without knowing that a Russian spy was in the British royal family

Anthony Blunt, art historian and curator of the royal family’s art collections, one of the largest in the world, admitted in 1964 to being a Soviet agent since the 1930s.

But the Queen was not fully informed until nine years later, as declassified documents from MI5, the domestic intelligence service, published by the National Archives indicate.

The queen reacted calmly

When the monarch finally learned of the espionage activities of the historian, who had been appointed to his post in 1945 by his father, King George VI, she reacted “very calmly and without showing surprise”, these documents specify. .