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.

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.

MI5 documents reveal her private secretary ‘saw no advantage in telling her’ about treachery of Buckingham Palace art expert

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.

Anthony Blunt, a royal art historial, confessed in 1964 to spying for the Soviets, but the late queen was not officially told about his past until 1973. View on euronews

When the Queen was finally told the full story in the 1970s, she was characteristically unflappable - taking it "all very calmly and without surprise".

Queen Elizabeth was left in the dark for almost a decade over the full scale of the treachery of one of her most senior courtiers, according to newly-released official files

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.