Art historian Sir Anthony Blunt enjoyed a privileged position with unfettered access to Queen Elizabeth II, as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures. When he was later revealed to be a Soviet spy – one of the Cambridge Five spy ring – he was allowed a tremendous amount of grace from the royal household.
QEII, according to declassified documents, was apparently aware in the 1950s that there had been rumours of Blunt’s treachery but these – for some reason – had not been acted upon. Blunt was even knighted in 1956 and continued in his role until 1972. QEII was told of Blunt’s confession in 1973, being informed that he had not only confessed, but had been offered immunity from prosecution for confessing.
The Palace then sat on the knowledge for six years, with it finally falling to Margaret Thatcher to bring the matter to light, and publicly expose Blunt as a traitor to his country in 1979. QEII stripped him of his knighthood. He died of a heart attack in London in 1983, having never defected to Russia like three of his fellow Cambridge Spies – Kim Philby, Donald Mclean and Guy Burgess, who all passed away there in varying degrees of misery.
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