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.

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.

MI5 reveals confessions of three members of infamous Cambridge Five spy ring as tranche of documents released into National Archives

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

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.

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t told details of her long-time ... Blunt are among a trove from the intelligence agency MI5 released Tuesday by Britain's National Archives.

Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark about her art advisor being a Russian spy to avoid adding to her worries. Blunt confessed to spying for the Soviet Union in 1964 but kept his job and knighthood until his role was publicly revealed in 1979 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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

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