The Queen and The Russian Spy

CORRECTION> Channel 4.

Oooooh! I've not seen that!
Bet he didn't gain much from the Queen, though.

That was in the 60’s

yes....
He argued that "Burgess had told me he was a spy in 1936 and I had not told anyone." In 1963, MI5 learned of Blunt's espionage from an American, Michael Straight, whom he had recruited. Blunt confessed to MI5 on 23 April 1964, and Queen Elizabeth II was informed shortly thereafter.

Burgess and Maclean , over 50 years ago

We have known this for decades. Books have been written on the subject

He died in 1983 and was outed as a spy long before that.

He was outed in the 60’s, hardly news , why make a documentary now

An Establishment cover-up for one of their own - a lower person would have been exposed and jailed, not given immunity, a knighthood and made Surveyor of the King's Pictures.

I remember Mrs Thatcher naming him but can't remember what brought that about.

He was stripped of his knighthood when exposed

Interesting to hear how much influence the Queen Mother had. Not such a benign background figure after all.

No, not new news, but interesting history nonetheless.

News, may I say, is something you may not have known before!
younger generation.

True lemsip I apologise

Anniebach

He was stripped of his knighthood when exposed

Only when publicly exposed.

A school friend of mine worked with Anthony Blunt - in an art capacity, not a spying capacity! I also know someone related to one of the Cambridge spies, so I always feel I have a slight personal relationship with this story.

I am sure we shall never know the full story, I hadn't realised he was a cousin of the Queen Mother.

Alan Bennett wrote a very clever play - A Question of Attribution - James Fox played Blunt and Prunella Scales the Queen. Highly recommended.

Anniebach

He was outed in the 60’s, hardly news , why make a documentary now

You might as well say why make any historical documentary !!

luluaugust

I am sure we shall never know the full story, I hadn't realised he was a cousin of the Queen Mother.

I don’t think the Queen Mother was quite the soft marshmallowy, sweet little person she seemed to be at first glance.

I am sure there are spies at every level all the time- could be me, could be my neighbour who knows, they are everywhere from every foreign power.

I've always been interested in the so called "Cambridge" spies so watched the documentary, - I thought it was very good.
He was only a 3rd cousin to the Queen Mother but still had a very priviledged upbringing. The establishment had known for years he was a traitor but didn't want it made public - something I find disgusting. I don't agree with much Margaret Thatcher did but in this case I applaud her for "outing" him. He was stripped of his knighthood and died 4 years later having never appologised. As one of the contributors to the programme said "he should have been jailed" it's still possible he passed secrets to the Russians regarding the RF, secrets they still hold. We'll never know how many lives he put in danger because of his actions.

Ladyleftfieldlover

luluaugust

I am sure we shall never know the full story, I hadn't realised he was a cousin of the Queen Mother.

I don’t think the Queen Mother was quite the soft marshmallowy, sweet little person she seemed to be at first glance.

I never thought she came across like that despite her smiles and hats.

She had to be one tough cookie, supporting her shy and reluctant husband when he was left in the lurch by his charismatic, confident brother.
She was what her daughter would describe as "his strength and stay" throughout all those years which included WW2.

It was the 60’s, president Kennedy , Bobby Kennedy, Martin
Luther King murdered, Mandela imprisoned.

So the spy revelations don’t stick in memories, well not mine

I remember Mrs Thatcher "outing him" quite clearly.

The history of the Cambridge spies is just so interesting, well worth the various dramas that have been written about them.
There is a good series on Amazon Prime at the moment with Tom Hollander as Guy Burgess, Rupert Penry Jones as Donald Maclean, Toby Stephens as Kim Philby and Samuel West as Anthony Blunt.