What was queen elizabeth 1 known for

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II was a woman of many talents. In fact, according to a new report, the former monarch barely blinked when she learned that one of her courtiers was a Russian spy.

As reported by the BBC, "Art historian Anthony Blunt was for decades Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, overseeing the official Royal Art Collection, and in admitted he had been a Soviet agent since the s." However, it was reportedly almost a decade before the monarch was given the vital information.

When the late Queen was finally informed about Blunt in the '70s, she "took it all very calmly and without surprise: she remembered that he had been under suspicion way back in the aftermath" of another case, according to declassified MI5 files in the National Archives.

The monarch was eventually told about Blunt's true identity when he became very ill following a cancer diagnosis.

Per the BBC, officials were worried that details about Blunt's secret identity would be reporte