Lauren Frayer
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 6PM EST
In 1964, one of Queen Elizabeth's senior courtiers, her private art collector, confessed to being a Soviet spy. But the monarch wasn't told for nine years. Aides apparently saw no advantage and didn't want to worry her. The man was later stripped of his knighthood. This is one of several tidbits in a trove of documents declassified ahead of an upcoming exhibition at Britain's National Archives.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 6PM EST
Other documents show how British secret agents lobbied for an honorary knighthood for J. Edgar Hoover, the notorious FBI director, and then tried to get him listed in a who's who almanac to boost his ego and U.S.-British relations after another Cold War spy scandal. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.