Skip to main content
Elizabeth II left in the dark over Anthony Blunt, newly released files reveal
Professor Anthony Blunt, former surveyor of the Queen's pictures, photographed at the Courtauld Institute in 1970 with Queen Elizabeth II, November 15, 1979

QUEEN ELIZABETH II was left in the dark for almost a decade over the full scale of the actions of one of her most senior courtiers, according to newly released official files.

In 1964, Sir Anthony Blunt, the surveyor of the Queen’s pictures and distinguished art historian, finally confessed he had been a Soviet agent since the 1930s.

He was recruited, when he was a young don at Cambridge, into one of the most notorious spy rings of the 20th century, the “Cambridge Five.”

Take out shares in the People's Press
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Kelly Lee Owens
Music review / 5 April 2025
5 April 2025
WILL STONE appreciates an artist who can swerve from industrial noise to clubby trance pop without missing a step
HOMOSEXUAL REPRESSION: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Brick and Seb Ca
Theatre Review / 19 December 2024
19 December 2024
‘There's outrage aplenty in this production but we never quite get to the dark night of the soul,’ writes WILL STONE
INNOVATION: High energy duets that are mixed with chorus lin
Ballet / 29 October 2024
29 October 2024
WILL STONE applauds a quartet of dance vignettes exploring the joys and sorrows of the human condition