Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark for a long time about a major scandal during her reign. Newly released MI5 files reveal that, for nearly 10 years, the late monarch didn’t know that royal household member Anthony Blunt was actually a Soviet double agent.

Queen Elizabeth II was not told officially for nearly a decade that one of her most senior courtiers had admitted he was a Soviet spy, newly declassified British files revealed Tuesday.

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.

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.

Sir Anthony Blunt, the royal family's picture surveyor and renowned art historian, finally admitted that he had been a Soviet agent since the 1930s