His one attempt to write his own history, a 30,000-word autobiographical manuscript, was bequeathed with instructions not to make it public until 25 years after his death, in 2009. Powered by. They were public school and Oxbridge-educated, yet betrayed it all. He continued to write books and give lectures at institutions across London. In real life, Anthony Blunt was even closer to the family than depicted, being a cousin of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and being one of the individuals who retrieved the documents on Edward, the Duke of Windsor's links to Nazi high command, as depicted in the second season episode Vergangenheit. But it was Ward's prodding of Keeler to procure secrets from Profumo that would prove the most scandalous. All of the significant dates and events shown in Season 3 did happen. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Donald Maclean was under suspicion in 1951, and as they narrowed in on him, it became clear that he needed to escape. She publicly outed him in the House of Commons in November of that year and a media storm followed. The maddening answer is well sort of. Moreover, the Queen not showing up until after the mass funeral is also correct, though whether she stayed away out of a failure to empathize or because she believed showing up would make the situation worse is arguable. He was addressing a press conference at the Times newspaper offices, outlining his role in the spy scandal. Just how tense were things between the Queen's husband and a Soviet spy? Was John Brown married to Queen Victoria? Did Elizabeth's brother Richard challenge Henry VII? However, it then turns out that theres a different mole, this one in Buckingham Palace no less. Did those portraits actually exist or was Blunt bluffing? He adds: I also think there was a hope on the part of the intelligence services that they could get something extra out of Blunt or get something back from the Russians somehow.. Was he really a Soviet spy, and was he real? Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. What did Anthony Blunt blackmail Philip with? . Revelation of Blunt's treason would have been very embarrasing for the British Establishment, particularly MI5 and the Royal family. In fact, the links between the Prince and the scandal are tenuous at best and has already been accused of being one of the most heavily fictionalised elements in the series by Marie Claire. Written by the Queen's uncles, the Dukes of Windsor and Kent, to their German relatives, the correspondence is likely to show the depth of their Nazi sympathies and would have proved hugely embarrassing had it been released in the Cold War years. Watch the trailer below: Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com, where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markles staff to Queen Elizabeths monochrome fashions; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve. He joined the British Army when World War Two broke out in 1939, serving with the intelligence services in France before being evacuated at Dunkirk in 1940. The Crown's first two seasons relegated Lord Mountbatten into this embarrassing Philip relation. Esquire Middle East The Regions Best Mens Magazine, Esquire is your destination for the best culture, interviews, men's fashion, style, food, watches, cars, sports, tech, features and more, Home | Film and TV | A KGB spy worked in Buckingham Palace for decades. (He most likely didn't blackmail Philip into silence over the Promo Affair though, . He died of a heart attack in 1983, aged 75, his reputation destroyed. A privileged upbringing. Is the Confessions of Nat Turner a reliable source? Macron faces May Day protests over divisive French pensions law. Was Catherine of Aragon promised to Arthur? Blunt remained in his prestigious palace role until 1972. A $450m Da Vinci is supposedly aboard Saudi Crown Prince MBSs yacht, What we know from the new teaser of Netflixs The Crown: Season 3, Netflixs The Crown season 3 with Olivia Colman is coming this week, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. When the top job at the Collection was vacated, Royal Librarian Owen Morshead, who'd forged a friendship with Blunt, recommended him for the position. The Crown season 3 is out now on Netflix. The Crown only tells part of the story. The episode implies that this was to protect the reputation of Britains intelligence forces. He was part of a spy ring known as the Cambridge Five. In The Crown, we see the Duke of Edinburgh, played by Tobias Menzies, square up to Blunt after his spying is revealed to the Queen. Keeler served six months in prison for perjury and obstruction of justice. Did Philip and Elizabeth fight over their last name? See full answer below. Is Prince Harry related to King Henry VIII? ), Ward was a colorful character: by trade, an osteopath, but also a socialite, artist, andmost unfortunate for Profumoa Soviet ally. Blunt was stripped of his knighthood and became a social pariah, breaking down in tears in a TV confession at the age of 72. Anthony Blunt remained in the Queen's service long after confessing to being a Soviet operative. The opening episode of the third season of Netflix royal drama The Crown sees The Queen faced with rumours of a KGB spy in the upper circles of British establishment, and even causing her to suspect new socialist Prime Minister Harold Wilson (Jason Watkins). 2. Like many of The Crown's storylines, this improbable ordeal is based in fact. Did a prince of York attempt a coup of Henry Tudor? Blunt flipped the script on. Was Nat Turner arested for the rebellion? Anthony Blunt (left), photographed in 1929 with his friends from Cambridge. He was addressing a press conference at the Times newspaper offices, outlining his role in the spy scandal. Did Catherine de Medici poison her son King Francis? (In addition to being a friend of Ward's, Ivanov was also romantically involved with Keeler at the time.). Prince Philip was a friendor at least an acquaintanceof Ward's. How Prince Philip Was Connected to the Profumo Affairand How Anthony Blunt May Have Covered For Him, How The Stars of 'The Crown' Compare to Real Life, Everything We Know About 'The Crown' Season 3, Profumo had a five-month affair with Christine Keeler, latest additions to Meghan Markles staff, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Its 1964, and the air in Buckingham Palace is rife with fear of communism as frustration with the tax-guzzling monarchy swells outside the palace gates. But did Anthony Blunt really threaten Philip in this way? So the reconstructions of events are either conjectures based on news reports, or in tabloid rumors of the era. When the Queens dad died in 1952, he became Surveyor of the Queens Pictures and was knighted by Her Majesty four years later. Now it's the late 1960s, and a new set of actors have taken over to cover QEII's middle age period. Blunt was born in Hampshire country in the south of England and was educated at Cambridge. Sir Anthony Blunt, is a KGB spy. However, one scene sees Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies) give Blunt a piece of his mind and threatens to see him punished, but Blunt retaliates by threatening Philip with exposure of his links to the Profumo scandal. Anthony Blunt was born the youngest son of a vicar, the Reverend Arthur Stanley Vaughan Blunt, in Bournemouth, Hampshire. He was also removed of his knighthood. It also suggests that Blunt blackmailed Prince Philip with a portrait of him done by osteopath Stephen Ward, referencing the scandal that rocked the royal marriage in season two. Robert explains: They would have said: Were traitors to our class but not ashamed because weretribunes of the people and doing this for the good of societyand a more equal, socialistic society. Philip was born in Greece to royal families from both Greece and Denmark. In that role, he maintained the paintings in the Royal Collection. Was Confessions of Nat Turner a true story? But did Anthony Blunt really threaten Philip in this way? The Kremlin knew their education, and the British class system, would ensure they got jobs at the top of society. Did Blunt blackmail the royal family for the KGB? The King knew that, in the wrong hands, the letters could prove highly damaging. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The Profumo Affair is considered to have contributed largely to this. Channel 4 is set to air a new documentary, Queen Elizabeth: Love, Honour and Crown, which . The KGB agent went undetected for years, and was. Despite being discovered, it is decided to keep his treachery a secret so as to save face and humiliation for the Royals and intelligence services, becoming free from prosecution and keeping his position, to The Queen's chagrin. Anthony Blunt gave his Russian spymasters a collection of Royal letters so compromising, it could have been used to blackmail the Windsors, according to a leading figure in the KGB. Blunt, a British art historian, is believed to have been recruited by Soviet spies while he was studying at Cambridge University in the 1930s. At the end of The Crown's first episode of season three, Prince Philip tries to castigate Anthony Blunt for betraying his country. Blunt received far more than immunity from prosecution. Is it a real story. Robert also points out that the Queen had red boxes crammed with confidential government documents delivered to her. The episode implies that this was to protect the reputation of Britains intelligence forces. In addition to the "deciphered diplomatic telegrams, the diplomatic telephone conversations, and the product of various agents in the embassies" that he got in "the ordinary course" of his job, Blunt managed to put himself in a position to do "a good deal of liaison with other departments," Blunt wrote, per Carter. (This being despite the U.S.S.R.'s own regressive ideas about sexuality.). But she covers it up to protect the crown's reputation because he had supposed blackmail on Prince . That made his betrayal all the worse. He continued to write books and give lectures at institutions across London. Even during the war, Blunt was continuing to publish critical essays and academic papers, and further ingratiating himself with members of the art historical establishment. Three of the other members of the Cambridge ring defected to Russia, according to The Times. That recording of the singing is the real deal too. The Crown introduces a curious new figure in season three: a buttoned-up curator, well-practiced in the art of espionage.The Crown Got It Right: Anthony BluntAnthony BluntAnthony Frederick . As we know, Anthony Blunt had insider knowledge of the Duke of Windsors correspondence with the Nazis, which the Queen was determined to keep secret from the world. In her biography of Blunt, Anthony Blunt: His Lives, Miranda Carter notes that in 1963, the art historian may have stepped out of his semi-retirement to help the royal family out of a bind. According to the documentary, he microfilmed the letters and sent them to Moscow in a diplomatic bag. From Elizabeth's accession on February 6, 1952, until he died in 2021, he served as the British monarch's consort, making him the longest-serving royal consort in history. Any link to Stephen would have been disastrous for Philip. View our. The first episode introduces us to Surveyor of the Queens Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt (played by Samuel West), .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}who held the position for 27 years. Blunt escaped exposure for even longer - it was not until 1979, when Margaret Thatcher named him as a suspect in the House of Commons, that he confessed to his treachery and was stripped of his titles. Lauren Kranc is the assistant content strategy editor at Esquire, where she runs the brands social media accounts and covers pop culture and television, with entirely too narrow an expertise on true crime shows, .css-gk9meg{display:block;font-family:Lausanne,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;padding-top:0.25rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-gk9meg:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.15;margin-bottom:0.25rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-gk9meg{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.2;}}Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux Open Up, The Spookiest Urban Legend in Every State, 'Succession' Showed It's Not Fun Ruling the World, Eight Shows to Watch After 'The Diplomat', The True Story Behind HBO's 'Love & Death', 'The Diplomat' Has Me Ready For More Keri Russell, The 'Black Mirror' Trailer Will Give You Anxiety. Margaret's upper-class party girl persona and Lyndon B. Johnson's working-class bruiser politician somehow magically found kindred spirits, causing him to sign a bailout worth millions to save the U.K. economy. He was then recruited by MI5 and one of his missions saw him travel to Germany at the end of the war in 1945 to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis. It also suggests that Blunt blackmailed Prince Philip with a portrait of him done by osteopath . We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. The Queen was also informed of his confession. Anthony Blunt: Anthony Blunt was a Former British art historian cum Soviet spy . The Crown, however, is doing its part to remedy thatfirst by showing the Affair's fallout at the end of season two, and in season three, having the Queen's art curator, Anthony Blunt, blackmail Prince Philip with some related artworks. The Queen stripped Anthony Blunt of his knighthood immediately after the news broke, and though he remained in London, Blunt lived as a recluse until he died of a heart attack in 1983 at age 75. The 'fifth man' in the spy ring has never been definitively identified, but was named as John Cairncross by KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky. He was interviewed by spooks 11 times but only in 1963 did they get definitive proof, from US spy Michael Straight. He says: There are no sources where I know that happened, but I think we would have a pretty good idea as to what Philips attitude to someone like Blunt would have been. If you're curious about the Profumo Affair, and how Prince Philip was connected to it, read on: It was one of the 20th century's biggest political scandals on the other side of the pond, but many Americans have never heard of the infamous Profumo Affair. Its a true story. GettyThe Queen Elizabeth II poses with Prince Edward, 13 June 1964 in London. One expert offers tips to brew the perfect cup at home. Anthony Blunt, in full Anthony Frederick Blunt, also called (1956-79) Sir Anthony Blunt, (born Sept. 26, 1907, Bournemouth, Hampshire, Eng.died March 26, 1983, London), British art historian who late in his life was revealed to have been a Soviet spy. As we know, Anthony Blunt had insider knowledge of the Duke of Windsors correspondence with the Nazis, which the Queen was determined to keep secret from the world. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. ), The Guardian discusses a book about Blunt by Miranda Carter. Philip confronts Blunt only to be met with blackmail over the Profumo affair, the Russian spy sex scandal that had toppled a conservative prime minister. Burgess ended up going all the way with him, though; it's not clear whether Blunt knew he wasn't coming back. One of a series of close-ups of Anthony Blunt, when he made his first public appearance since the sensational disclosure last week that he was a Russian spy. This scandal and Philip's suspected links to it were dramatised in the second season of The Crown. As the war came to an end, King George VI, the Queen's father, personally asked Blunt, who spoke German, to accompany Royal librarian Owen Morshead on a secret mission. Blunt, however, turns the tables on Philip, threatening. But it's. But when Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she was furious at the leniency which with the country treated Blunts treason. The Crown's claim: Sir Anthony Blunt blackmailed Prince Philip to keep quiet about his spy past after the royal grew frustrated by the truth being covered up ADVERTISEMENT Despite the. Blunt was also a third cousin of the Queen mother, and he was knighted in 1956 for his work with the royal art collection. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Blunt, also a distant cousin of the Queens, was recruited, according to Radio Times, to be a Russian spy while studying at Cambridge and passed information to Russian handlers. However, was the Blunt story true? He worked alongside Yevgeni Mikhailovitch Ivanov, a Soviet spy working undercover at his country's embassy in London, to extract information from Profumo. The Crown Season 3 starts with Queen Elizabeth IIs suspicions that Russian spies have infiltrated the highest reaches of British government (Warning: There will be spoilers for The Crown, Season 3, episode 1 in this article.). Are the Windsors related to the Plantagenets? Tomorrows opening episode of the third series of Netflix royal drama The Crown revisits the scandal and features a stunned Monarch, played by Olivia Colman, 45, complicit in covering it up. He did continue to spend time occasionally with the Queen Mother, who presumably didn't know about his double life. And how does his secret dossier still resonate even today? Blunt lived out the rest of his days in deep privacy, but appeared on live television in tears over his behaviour in an interview. Blunt flipped the script on Philip, threatening to reveal his involvement in the Profumo Affair if he crossed him. He threatened the Prince Philip for accusing him of betraying his nation. All rights reserved. (Although, according to MI5 documents declassified in 2017, Profumo had a somewhat unfortunate taste in women. Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Philip risked opening himself up to Soviet blackmail. "I've never seen a connection between Blunt and Steven Ward.". Did John Knox plot against Queen Elizabeth? . HE was art curator to the Queen and her dad before her but one of Britains most prolific spies, leaking some 2,000 secrets to Soviet intelligence at the height of the Cold War. They were frustrated with the U.K.'s policy of appeasement toward Hitler, and thought that the Communists might be the only ones able to defeat the fascists. Queen Elizabeth II attends a performance at RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), to celebrate the drama schools Diamond Jubilee (60th anniversary), London, UK, November 1964. Being in the palace means you have the best connections. Guy Burgess (left) and Donald Maclean (right). It is likely that the Kremlin still holds copies of the letters today. Despite the scene showing Anthony Blunt suggesting he would out Philip's links to the Profumo Affair scandal that were previously dramatised in The Crown, there is no evidence that the Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures delivered such a threat to the Duke of Edinburgh in real life. The 'Cambridge Five' spying scandal rocked the Establishment by revealing Soviet double agents at the heart of many of Britain's most important institutions. Was Sir Christopher Wren married? Was Jack the Ripper a member of the royal family? Did Robert the Bruce kill the Prince of Wales? In exchange for his full cooperation when his part of the spy ring known as The Cambridge Five was exposed, Blunt was granted full anonymity and immunity from prosecution in 1964. Blunt claimed he had sketches of the duke made by Stephen Ward, the osteopath the royal had visited for a neck problem. As a boy he visited his aristocratic relatives home in Londons Mayfair, birthplace of the Queen in 1926, and they later became close friends through their love of paintings. I have a pretty good feeling Philip would have wanted to take him outside and its not conjecture about him buying up some of the portraits done by Stephen Ward during the Profumo scandal. Writer Peter Morgan is known for taking royal history and dramatizing it, from 1997's The Queen to 2013's The Audience. Interestingly, Keeler would claim in her memoir, The Truth at Last, that Ward was Blunt's Soviet controller. Her press secretary, Bernard Ingham, recalls: She didnt see why the system should cover things up. He visited the Soviet Union in 1933 while he was in university, but it is believed he was recruited as a spy for the KGB in 1934, and spent his remaining years at Cambridge recruiting his peers. Did Meghan Markle Secretly Hint at Her WME Deal? Anthony Blunts memoirs were only released to the public in July of 2009. Profumo had a five-month affair with Christine Keeler, a sex worker and sometimes model, in 1961. The photograph that won an international photography competition that same month wasnt a real photograph. . Then he confessed in exchange for immunity from prosecution, and remained in the palace for eight more years. Did any royals attend Richard III's reburial. In the first episode of the new season, which streamed on Netflix on November 17, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II (played now by Olivia Colman) grows suspicious that Prime Minister Harold Wilson is a mole. Its the 1960s now, and Communist paranoia was at its height. This outlandish scene, it turns out, is loosely based on some historians' conjectures. Despite the scene showing Anthony Blunt suggesting he would out Philip's links to the Profumo Affair scandal that were previously dramatised in The Crown, there is no evidence that the. Eugene Ivanov, the Russian spy who worked with Ward. The Crown turns its attention to the Cold War this season when rumors of a Russian mole in the very high reaches of the British government start flying. Blunt, played in The Crown by Sam West, 53, was a member of the infamous Cambridge Five a spy ring of left-wingers at the university who were recruited as agents for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Blunt served in the British Army in WWII, often passing British intelligence on the Germans off to the Soviet Union. In them, Blunt confesses that spying was the biggest mistake of my life. Perhaps well meet him again in season four of The Crown to watch his public fall from grace. Also, well give you Esquires A-to-Z of Mens Fashion for FREE. View our online Press Pack. "He was a far more effective spy than people realized with far greater access, particularly when he was private secretary to the number two in the foreign office," Lownie tells Town & Country. In the memoir, he described how the atmosphere at Cambridge was so intense, the enthusiasm for any anti-fascist activity was so great.. Did King James of Scotland snub Henry VIII? Our experts can answer your tough homework and study questions. At the end of The Crown 's first episode of season three, Prince Philip tries to castigate Anthony Blunt for betraying his country. Ward was charged with "living off immoral earnings," but committed suicide in August 1963, before the trial had ended. The espionage story was only broken to the world in 1979, by the late Margaret Thatcher. After World War II, he wrote that his beliefs changed. Blunt would hold a single press conference, and then do his best to fade into the background. 'Heartstopper' Season 2 Finally Has A Premiere Date & It's V Soon, 15 Celebrities You Forgot Appeared On Disney Channel Shows, Prepare To Cry At This Wardrobe Detail About Roman In The New 'Succession' Ep, By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Get the biggest TV headlines, recaps and insider knowledge straight to your inbox. The Crown Got It Right: Anthony Blunt, Queen Elizabeth's Art Curator, Was a Soviet Spy. Be the first to know what's trending, straight from Elite Daily. For the first 19 of those years, he operated undetected as a spy for the Soviet Union. They dont want the embarrassment or worsening relationships with the Americans, so the Queen agrees to play along. Britain's spy catchers. But it was the information that came out immediately after the war. The answers are yes. But in November 1979, the then newly elected Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher blew his story wide open in the House of Commons. But Blunt effectively blackmails Prince Philip using the Profumo scandal, and the drama seems to imply this might have contributed to Blunt keeping his liberty and his job. Afraid of the outcome, Prince Philip did not disclose Blunt's association with the Russians. A KGB Spy Worked in Buckingham Palace For Decades. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies. The show is both accurate in the suspicions about the new PM, and the actual culprit, Anthony Blunt. This scandal and Philip's suspected links to it were dramatised in the second season of The Crown. In fact, the links between the Prince and the scandal are tenuous at best and has already been accused of being one of the most heavily fictionalised elements in the series by Marie Claire. MI6, too, had apparently been aware of their relationship. The Crown accurately portrays how the royal family swallowed the secret and kept Blunt in his role for nearly a decade following his confession. He was also an MI5 agent. Despite the suspicion surrounding Philby, he avoided detection until 1963, when he too defected to the USSR. Blunt went to top public school Marlborough College, Wilts, where the Duchess of Cambridge would later become a pupil, before going to Cambridge University, where he met the left-wing academics who would convert him to their cause. Hes Sir Anthony Blunt, the Queens surveyor of pictures. In 1951, Burgess and Maclean were exposed as double agents - but after being tipped off by Philby they were able to escape to Moscow. Are you a fan of The Crown? At the time, it wasn't uncommon for liberal, college-educated youth to be sympathetic to the Communist party. But there's no access to the people who lived it. ", Other historians dispute this, however. Are you a fan of The Crown? But it wasnt Buckingham Palace which was culpable here, it was the intelligence services because they failed to detect Blunt.. Did Henry VIII promise leniency to Catherine Howard? Prince George, the Duke of Kent, was killed in an air crash in 1942.
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