Queen Elizabeth II was not officially informed for nearly a decade that Anthony Blunt was a Soviet spy, newly declassified documents reveal.

Newly declassified British documents show that Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t told details of her long-time art adviser's double life as a Soviet spy because palace officials didn’t want to add to her worries.

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.

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

Newly declassified files reveal the late Queen's very unexpected reaction to the art historian's shocking secret.

Sir Anthony Blunt, the surveyor of the Queen's pictures, confessed in 1964 that he had been a Russian agent since the 1930s, when he was recruited into the Cambridge spy ring

Anthony Blunt, who worked at Buckingham Palace as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was secretly a Soviet spy during WWII.

Queen Elizabeth II was not officially informed for nearly a decade that Anthony Blunt was a Soviet spy, newly declassified documents reveal.

The identity of a Russian spy among Queen Elizabeth II's courtiers was kept from the monarch for almost a decade, but she took the news with her typically calm demeanour