Spying and the Crown: The Secret Relationship Between British Intelligence and the Royals

by Richard Aldrich

The close two-way relationship between the Crown and the secret service dates back to Elizabeth I and her spymaster Francis Walsingham. Drawing on declassified papers, this study follows its development through the surveillance network established to protect Queen Victoria from assassination, the Russian Revolution, MI5â€s role in the Abdication Crisis, the Second World War, the dismantling of the British Empire and conflict in Northern Ireland.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, British Literature, Audiobook, Politics

736 pages, Paperback

Published October 6, 2022

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is vast and some of it is interesting but what it lacks is any perspective to put the information in context. That queen Victoria's daughter Vicki who married their heir to the Prussian and later German imperial thrones sent vast amounts of gossip back to her mother who passed this on to her own government is well known. But Vicki was immensely unpopular in Berlin was distrusted by Bismarck and was a total failure in every possible way at creating any sense of sympathy or co-operation between the UK and Germany. She couldn't even ensure that her children and those of her brother the future Edward VII grew up with any liking for each other. In any case the lack of any alignment between the UK and Germany before WWI had nothing to do with relations between the respective royals. Nor did the growing closeness of the UK with France and Russia. The UK had treaties with France and Russia because they had potential conflicts of interests which could lead to war so it made sense to come to agreements over them. Royalty had nothing to do with it until the treaty were signed and another round of state dinners and medal giving was called for.

Because the UK has a monarch who is informed and consulted and sees a lot of secret information but that doesn't mean they have any influence. King George VI may have been informed about the decision to stop supporting the royalist and switch to the communist partisans in Yugoslavia but even if he had objected it wouldn't have changed anything.

Also there is a belief that the secret services by their very nature must have access to 'the truth'. In fact most of the information gathered up by intelligence operatives is no better than gossip. The author spend a lot of time going through the stories about Rasputin and 'dark forces' and the threat of the tsar making peace with Germany in WWI but we now know that Rasputin's influence on policy was negligible. The weaknesses in the Tsarist state had everything to do with with the poor decision making of the tsar - and that began long before Rasputin ever appeared on the scene. The authors also fully endorse the idea that British intelligence was responsible for Rasputin's assassination even though the so called 'evidence' in the autopsy photographs was dismissed by every reputable ballistic expert as spurious. But ultimately Rasputin's death changed nothing and if Britain did interfere it had nothing to do with George V but Lloyd George (who rightly thought the king of limited intelligence) and the cabinet'.

As for the suspicion of the security services for Edward VIII? Telling us that he was an utter shit and an immensely mediocre man with a ghastly bitch of a wife and that the two of them were loose lipped pro German anti-Semites who were selfish and self absorbed is neither new nor startling.

That is the problem with the book - there isn't much new or much of importance. There are lots of intelligence stories from old memoirs - including a bizarre one that a British naval team intercepted 500 contraband impressionist paintings and deposited them in the national gallery of Canada. Really? Are they still there? The authors claim the hoard included 270 Renoir's, 30 Cezanne's and 12 Gauguin's - how many galleries in the world currently hold 270 Renoir's? The story is typical of all the juiciest tales - utterly without any foundation or verifiable fact.

Spies and royals always guarantee book sales but don't guarantee that anything of importance will be revealed. Nothing in this book reveals anything new or substantial about the history of the UK or its relations with the rest of the world. If anything it should make any intelligent reader question the peculiar institution that makes the UK not a nation but a kingdom.

[Abbi Debelack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lesson learned: read the description of the book before reading the book🤣This book was not about Royal Secrets, but Royal Secret Service (which is far less interesting)

[Vicuña · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve really enjoyed this book which seems thoroughly researched with source material referenced. The early chapters on the Tudor and Elizabethan courts where spies and double agents were keeping the monarch well informed are intriguing.

I really enjoyed the later chapters dealing with more recent times and there’s a new slant on many names that will be familiar; Blunt, Profumo, Burgess, Krushev etc. I had no idea that the late Queen took so much time going through her daily red boxes which included detailed intelligence material. I also founded the concerns about Mountbatten interesting, particularly given his connection to Philip and his influence over the Royal family.

It’s an easy read, packed with trivia and it brought to mind many if the scandals and stories I’ve read about over the last 50 years or so. A cracking slice of modern social history.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly fun and fascinating read. The Secret Royals digs into the weird overlap between British royalty and the world of espionage — from Queen Victoria’s secret letter-writing habits to more serious Cold War drama. It’s packed with interesting stories and a few properly jaw-dropping moments. Some bits get a little dense or heavy on the intel detail, but overall it’s a fresh angle on royal history that makes you see the monarchy in a totally different light.

[Rosalind · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big read but absolutely engrossing. I learned a huge amount even in periods of history that I thought I knew quite well. It's well structured with clear themes for each chapter, which is really helpful, for instance, in following developments through the long reign of Queen Elizabeth. But it's also great fun, with vivid anecdotes and reminiscences. A great achievement if thorough research.

[Keith Johnstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read, some very interesting information across the UK’s foreign engagement history and the role of the royal family in it. Clearly still a great deal we don’t know and I can’t decide if that’s a good or a bad thing.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really enjoying this but have stopped a third of the way through - too much detail for me and decided I wasn't that interested in spies. But well written and interesting for the parts I read.