Newly released government papers reveal that Queen Elizabeth II and the home secretary were informed in 1964 that Anthony Blunt, the Queen's art adviser, had been a Soviet spy, but the prime minister of the time, Alec Douglas-Home, was not told.
Blunt, a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring, confessed to MI5 in April 1964 after being offered immunity from prosecution. The home secretary, Henry Brooke, was briefed, and the Queen was discreetly informed. However, Douglas-Home was kept in the dark until Margaret Thatcher exposed Blunt in the House of Commons in November 1979.
Following Thatcher's statement, Brooke wrote to Downing Street expressing regret for not informing Douglas-Home, saying he had intended not to add to the premier's burdens. Even then, no one contacted Douglas-Home until 1990, when an official from No 10 reached out. Douglas-Home replied that he had not been told before the information became public.
Blunt was recruited by the NKVD in the 1930s, served in MI5 during World War II, and later helped fellow spies Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Kim Philby. He died in 1983 at age 75.
