For a decade, Queen Elizabeth II lived without knowing that her own art advisor, Anthony Blunt, a trusted man in charge of overseeing the invaluable Royal Collection, was living a double life as a Soviet agent.

Documents newly declassified by MI5, Britain's internal intelligence agency, show the late Queen Elizabeth II was not informed for almost 10 years that a member of her staff had spied for the then-Soviet Union.

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.

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

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

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, newly declassified documents reveal.

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, newly declassified documents reveal.

Members of the spy ring in the 1930s spilled secrets to the Soviet Union from the heart of the U.K. intelligence establishment.

Declassified documents confirm that the late Queen Elizabeth II of England was not informed until many years later that she had a KGB spy amongst her members of staff. She didn't like him anyway. Secrecy is the art of espionage.