How Queen Elizabeth's Father Helped MI5 Spread Disinformation to the Nazis in WWII
Queen Elizabeth paid a secret visit to MI5 yesterday, during which she thanked the agency for "the tireless work you do to keep our country safe"—work that, sometimes, involves liaising with the royals.
During the private event—which was only revealed to the public after the fact—MI5 director-general Sir Andrew Parker told the Queen about how her father and predecessor, King George VI, had helped agents pass fake intelligence to the Germans during WWII.
The agency put a great deal of effort into convincing the Nazis that the D-Day landings were planned for Calais or Norway instead of Normandy—and King George VI helped pull it off. The monarch took part in a series of "royal visits" designed to fake out the enemy, including one trip to a fake oil storage complex built by Shepperton studios.
The King's visits were publicized by the press, and a network of double agents helped spread additional disinformation to the Germans. According to the Telegraph, MI5 files say that officers "can’t say if King was told about the network of agents but he knew about some the disinformation strategy which the visits played into. A classified report from the MI5 architect of the ‘Double Cross’ network, written in Summer 1945 we understand was still in the King’s dispatch box at the time of his death seven years later."
Sir Andrew told the Queen that MI5's work tricking the Nazis about the Allies' D-Day plans was "the most important thing MI5 has done."
"And very successfully too," the British monarch replied.
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