Czech spy ‘targeted Royal Family by meeting Queen’s brother-in-law Lord Snowdon twice in 1970s’
- Communist spies allegedly tried to infiltrate the Royal Family during Cold War
- Czech agent ‘Krupsky’ posed as embassy official to meet Lord Snowdon
- Suggested he discussed Royal trip to Soviet Union and possible photo exhibition with Princess Margaret’s husband
A Communist spy once try to infiltrate the Royal Family by targeting Princess Margaret’s husband, it has been claimed.
Czech secret agent Captain Bohumil Karkan – who used the code-name Krupsky – is said to have twice met Lord Snowdon in the 1970s during the Cold War.
The revelation comes from previously unseen documents recently released from the then-Czechoslovakian StB secret police.
Czech secret agent Captain Bohumil Karkan – who used the code-name Krupsky – is said to have twice met Lord Snowdon in the 1970s during the Cold War
According to The Sun, the file says the spy posed as a Czech embassy official to get a meeting with Lord Snowdon.
The Queen’s brother-in-law is then said to have agreed to meet the agent at his home in Kensington Palace and gave him his phone number.
During the meeting it is believed they discussed an upcoming royal tour of the Soviet Union by Prince Philip and Princess Anne in 1973, where they would attend the European Horse Trials.
Princess Margaret’s husband is said to have agreed to meet the agent at his home in Kensington Palace and gave him his phone number.
Describing one meeting, Krupsky described it as a ‘friendly atmosphere, which created conditions for further social contact’.
Lord Snowdon, a keen photographer who had previously visited the Soviet bloc, is said to have asked the agent about getting his photography exhibition into Czechoslovakia.
It is not suggested Lord Snowdon realised the man was a spy or that he colluded with communist spies.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
The Queen’s brother-in-law is then said to have agreed to meet the agent at his home in Kensington Palace and gave him his phone number
The Royals have been exposed to Communist spies in the past, most notably Anthony Blunt, a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring.
Having been recruited by the NKVD, Blunt returned to Britain where he joined MI5 at the start of the war, from where he passed intelligence on to the Soviets.
Having avoided detection, he refocused on his career as an art historian, becoming Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures which gave him access to Buckingham Palace.
He was given a knighthood for his work in the expansion of the Queen’s Gallery, and even continued in his post after admitting to having been a spy in 1964.
He retired from his role in 1973, and was later stripped of his knighthood when it was publicly revealed he was a spy in 1979.