THE’Perfume Affair It is one of the most famous and controversial scandals of the twentieth century. One of those stories that are never really completely closed, capable of reserving surprises and the birth of new mysteries even after many years. For decades the press has hypothesized a possible involvement of Prince Philip in this case that has shaken the kingdom and the British government. Now new revelations from the FBI would seem to confirm these conjectures, adding another piece to an intricate story that resembles a spy novel.
The Profumo Scandal
On 8 July 1961 the British Secretary of State for War, John Profumomet the model Christine Keeler at a party at Cliveden, Lord Astor’s residence in Buckinghamshire. The minister was 46, the girl 19. They were introduced by the osteopath and designer Stephen Ward, who had influential friends in the British elite but, it seems, also many contacts in prostitution circles.
The party was attended by Profumo’s wife, actress Valerie Hobson, and a rather controversial individual, Yevgeny Mikhailovich Ivanova Soviet diplomat, naval officer and friend of Ward. Ward, however, was not just any guest, but Keeler’s lover and a spy in the pay of the Soviet Union.
From here on it is easy to guess what happened: they were the most difficult and dangerous years of the Cold WarKeeler and Profumo would have started a relationship, but it did not last long. A month after the party, the British secret services informed the minister of the model’s double life and the risks that the liaison entailed for the security of the United Kingdom: according to the most reliable hypothesis, in fact, Ivanov would have tried to extract secret information from Profumo through the young Christine. The minister left Keeler with a letter in which he explained that their relationship could not have any future.
The affair became public knowledge in 1962, overwhelming the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan. The scandal reached Parliament and in March 1963 John Profumo was questioned about it in the House of Commons. The minister then committed his biggest mistake, dragging the institutions into the abyss: he gave false testimony, stating that he had had no relationship “inconvenient” with Christine Keeler and that he was prepared to sue for defamation anyone who dared to claim otherwise.
On June 5 of the same year, the New York Times recalled, John Profumo, cornered by his political adversaries and the evidence of his betrayal, admitted that he had lied and had to resign. A very important detail also came out, which fueled suspicions and doubts: Keeler and the minister had not met at Cliveden, but rather some time before in a nightclub in LondonMurray’s. Not only that: according to documents declassified in 2017 by MI5 and cited by the BBC, in the 1930s Profumo had a love affair with a Nazi spy, the model Gisela Winegard. Another dark story that would discredit the minister’s image, casting further shadows on his life.
The end of the Conservative government
In October 1963 Macmillan resigned, apparently due to serious health problems aggravated by scandal and was replaced by Sir Alec Douglas-Home. The prime minister had tried to save the government by appointing Lord Denning, a judge, to open an inquiry into the scandal. The conclusions of this inquiry denied the risks to the security of the nation, but by then it was too late: the public was convinced that Macmillan wanted to protect Profumo and this was the final blow for the Conservatives.
No one ever managed to prove that Ivanov was really a spy and that he had used Christine Keeler to obtain confidential information from Profumo. Indeed, the diplomat was able to return quietly to his homeland, where he continued his life and career, before the media storm hit the government. However, a KGB spy quoted by the Times wrote: “The Russians had received a lot of useful information from Profumo through Christine Keeler, with whom Ivanov had established contact and in whose apartment Ivanov had carried out interceptions at appropriate times.”
Stephen Ward and Keeler were convicted in the trial that followed the scandal: the former for exploitation of prostitutionbut committed suicide in August 1963, before the end of the trial. The second at nine months for perjury. John Profumo finally retired from political life, chose to dedicate himself to philanthropy and died on April 10, 2006, at the age of 91.
A modern spy story
At the time, newspapers gave wide resonance to the story, obtaining a great response from the public. On the one hand, in fact, popular interest was dictated by issues concerning the country’s security. The United Kingdom was an enemy of the Soviet Union and the world divided into two opposing blocs. But people also became fascinated by the most scabrous aspect of the scandal: the extramarital affair and false testimony of Profumo. Cold War, espionage, politics, sex: all the ingredients for a novel were there.
Furthermore, the Profumo Affair broke down the economic and social barriers that separated the elite from the common people, reaching the heart of Palaces that had been inaccessible until then, affecting the lives and careers of men considered untouchable. The newspapers also spoke of an alleged involvement in the scandal of royal familyparticularly Prince Philip.
“Philip is involved”
The role, yet to be demonstrated, of the Duke of Edinburgh in this scandal was the subject of the plots of the second and early third seasons of “The Crown”. However, the Netflix series, as “Town And Country Magazine” pointed out, would have fictionalized the story quite a bit. In reality, we only know superficial details, some not even verified. Prince Philip was supposedly a friend of Stephen Ward. Journalist Clive Irving told the Daily Beast that Ward was even supposedly a member of the famous Thursday Club, a London men’s club founded by Baron Narhum, a friend of Philip.
The latter, Tatler reported, became one of the prominent members of this club, which met, as its name suggests, every Thursday for lunch, in a private room on the sixth floor of the Wheeler restaurant (Soho). For the Duke, the club was a way to escape the rigid rules of court and spend time with friends, in an informal and convivial atmosphere. All this does not demonstrate an involvement of the Prince Philip in the scandal.
However, a very strange thing would happen: Ward was also a cartoonist and in 1960 the Illustrated London News would commission him some portraitsincluding twelve members of the royal family, including Philip. The man carried out the work, but in July 1963 a mysterious person allegedly bought all the works for around 90 thousand pounds, as reported by the Daily Mail, and then made them disappear. Who was this person and why would he do such a thing?
The Mystery of the Missing Portraits
Let’s start from the reason why the works were bought: according to one of the hypotheses, the royal family would have commissioned someone to buy the portraits to eliminate any connection between Prince Philip and Stephen Wardgiven the great echo of the Profumo scandal. Furthermore, according to Town And Country Magazine, Ward would have needed money to pay the legal costs.
As for the mysterious buyer, one possibility brings to light a controversial name: Anthony Blunt, curator and art consultant first to George VI (who granted him the position in 1945), then to the Queen Elizabethas the Telegraph pointed out. All solved? Not at all. In fact, things are getting more complicated. In 1964, Blunt confessed to MI5 that he was part of the Cambridge Five, Communist spies working for the Soviet Union (the name comes from the fact that all five members had attended Cambridge in the 1930s).
The admission was apparently part of a deal with British intelligence in exchange for diplomatic immunity and the ability to continue his work for the Crown. In fact, Blunt continued his work as an art historian for the sovereign until 1979, when the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher publicly unmasked him in front of the House of Commons. This cost the man the stripping of all honorary titles granted by Elizabeth II.
Two women for the prince
In any case, it is not excluded that Anthony Blunt actually helped the royal family hide evidence of a relationship between Prince Philip and Stephen Ward. Unfortunately, however, nothing has ever been proven. We are in the realm of suppositions. According to Miranda Carter, author of the book “Antony Blunt. His Lives”, the hypothesis would have a certain credibility. The writer cited the biography “Elizabeth” (1997) in which Sarah Bradford wrote that Blunt could have “acted seemingly quietly in the interests of the royal family to purchase a series of drawings that Stephen Ward…made of the Duke of Edinburgh.”
However, not all scholars agree with this version of events. Even today there is a rather heated debate about Anthony Blunt’s role in the Profumo Affair. In “The Crown” the story is presented in a very different way: the Duke of Edinburgh, having discovered Blunt’s double-cross, wants to punish him for his betrayal of his country. The Queen’s advisor, then, threatens the Duke to reveal his involvement in the Profumo scandal. This reconstruction has never been verified either. Indeed, it would only be the fruit of the authors’ imagination.
The alleged disappearance of Ward’s drawings raises another question: if it was the Royal Family in purchasing them (unproven hypothesis), would the purpose have really been only to preserve the reputation of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Crown? A more than valid reason, certainly, but some argue that there is something else behind this disappearance.
The Mail On Sunday reported that Philip’s name appears in one of the FBI’s top-secret documents relating to the Profumo affair in the 1960s. A memo, written by the then FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, which claimed that Queen Elizabeth’s husband had been “involved” due to his alleged connection with Christine Keeler and another woman at the centre of the scandal, Mandy Rice-Davies.
The name of the Duke of Edinburgh was suggested by Thomas Corbally, an American businessman involved in money laundering operations. espionage industrialist, who agreed to tell the FBI about his friendship with Ward.
In a cable sent to the American Embassy in London on June 20, 1963, Hoover revealed: “Corbally also said that there was a rumour that Prince Philip was involved (in a relationship) with these two girls.” Unfortunately, all the people involved in the scandal are now dead and getting to the truth seems an increasingly remote possibility.