Queen Elizabeth II was kept in the dark for a long time about a major scandal during her reign. ... The MI5 files, released to the National Archives, reportedly contain Blunt’s full confession.

Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022 at the age of 96. Blunt was publicly unmasked as a spy by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons in November 1979.

In 1945, 19-year-old Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army.

Starting later this year, visitors to the National Archives Museum in Washington ... a patent for the light bulb and a set of horseshoes that Elizabeth II gave to President George H. W. Bush in 1992.

(See rare photos of Queen Elizabeth II from National Geographic's archives.) Queen Elizabeth II wears St. Edward's Crown at her coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.