The Profumo Affair: A Scandal of Sex and Soviet Espionage
Christine Keeler (Christine keeler), a teenage model and dancer, became famous for her role in the 1963 scandal that rocked the British establishment when she had an affair with Conservative war secretary John Profumo and Russian diplomat Yevgeny Ivanov at the height of the Cold War.
Among a stack of black-and-white photographs cut from British and American newspapers of the time, detailing the Profumo Affair, the Secretary of State for War (Secretary of State for War *) Britain, - a scandal about sex and Soviet espionage that shook the island in the 1960s, there are many pictures of the indescribably glamorous girls from this sensational case with lush hairdos and soft cat eyes - Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies.
Mandy Rice-Davies (Mandy Rice Davies) with Christine (Christine keeler) at the height of the political scandal in 1963. At parties thrown by Stephen Ward, Christine and her former cabaret colleague Mandy usually worked in pairs. The girls interacted well when communicating with men: Christine was a sweet but simple brunette, and Mandy was a witty and tenacious blonde. Photo: Associated Press
And if you continue to rake through those old newspaper cuttings, the next ones are of disgraced Secretary of State for War John Profumo, once a rising star of the Conservative government and, many thought, a future British Prime Minister, looking suitably humiliated at the end of the affair as he left Parliament, and indeed politics in general...
A distraught John Profume leaves Parliament. He was forced to admit to Parliament that Christine Keeler was his mistress and that he lied to the House of Commons...
The affair, named after John Profumo, the British Secretary of State for War, was the biggest political scandal of 1963, and his affair with Christine Keeler, the mistress of GRU officer Yevgeny Ivanov, who was working in Britain as a Soviet diplomat, followed by his lies in the House of Commons when questioned about it, forced Profumo to resign and damaged the reputation of the government and the sitting Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan.
Left: British Secretary of State for War John Profumo at Battersea Heliport (Battersea Heliport) in London on October 11, 1960. Photo: Evening Standard. Right: the same guy, in his office. Photo: The Publishers Association
These old photographs also contain a fascinating image of artist and doctor Stephen Ward, the man at the centre of it all. stories, and the only one who couldn't survive the whole sordid affair. And this black-and-white image reveals both the scale of his personal downfall and the truly dark nature of this dirty spy-sex scandal that brought down the Secretary of State for War. The talented osteopathic physician from British high society, whose glittering clients once included Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, lies in a coma on a stretcher after being poisoned, as in this whole story Stephen Ward, nicknamed "The Fixer" (The Fixer), became the scapegoat for the general bad behavior of "high society," was accused of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Rice-Davies, and paid for it with his life. And three days after this photograph was taken, he would die...
Pictured left: Dr. Stephen Ward (Stephen Ward). His talented illustrations caught the attention of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who gave Ward unique permission to draw MPs in session in the House of Commons. Right: The osteopathic doctor and artist implicated in the Christine Keeler-John Profumo scandal of the Sixties. Here he is pictured on a stretcher outside his home after being poisoned in July 1963. He would die a few days later.
But to delve into the life of British society at the time and try to understand the motives of the characters in this story, which unfolded against the backdrop of the Cold War – a period of heightened tension between the Soviet Union and Western powers – let's rewind the clock back two years...
Two years ago...
The year is 1961 – John F. Kennedy is sworn in as the youngest ever elected US president, the Soviet Union sends the first man into space, conscription is abolished in Britain and bookmaking is legalised in the UK*. Elvis Presley, brothers Don and Phil Everly and, of course, the legendary The Beatles top the charts, and the British, along with the rest of the world, are finally emerging from the shadow of World War II, realizing that life is meant to be lived, and that post-war Britain has all the opportunities for that, and the British are taking advantage of them like never before, and their business is on the rise...
Carnaby Street (Carnaby Street) in the heady Swinging Sixties. If London was the capital of cool and glamour in the 1960s, this street was its epicentre, with young people flocking to the boutiques in the hope of catching a glimpse of Tthe Beatles or Rolling Stones, while choosing shorter skirts and looser trousers. Photo: The Standard
In the early 60s, sometimes referred to as the "Swinging Sixties" (Swinging Sixties), London is a glamorous centre, a city where anything was possible, a city that in just ten short years has been transformed from a dreary, conservative imperial city, just beginning to forget the troubles of the Second World War, into a notional capital of the world, full of freedom, hope and promise. Creative types and adventurers of all stripes flock to the British capital, and the post-war migration from the Commonwealth countries begins to create its own mass culture, where the national “crowd” is an eclectic mix of wealthy business tycoons, ordinary workers and a small layer of migrants.
Swinging Sixties: Models in London Restaurant Guys & Dolls on King's Road. Photo: The Telegraph
But the early Swinging Sixties, in addition to the glamorous party scene and total freedom, were also a time of conflict and the Cold War. While London's social life was heating up and bubbling with heat, the Cold War - this ideological, economic and sometimes military struggle between capitalism and communism that arose at the end of World War II - was increasing the chill in British politics. For example, in May 1961, ten years after suspected spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean had defected to the Soviet Union, a British intelligence agent MI6 George Blake was accused of passing top secret documents to Moscow and sentenced to 42 years in prison...
Young people on Carnaby Street (Carnaby Street)
So, politics was overflowing with intelligence and counter-intelligence, no one was above suspicion, and everyone could be a spy, and from this begins the events that forever changed the relationship between the government and the press and seriously undermined the confidence of the British public in politicians, and the traditional respect for government figures was now gradually replaced by suspicion and mistrust. And this is where this story begins...
The history
In the apartment on the top floor of house number 17 on the street Wimpole Mews in the wealthy London district of Marylebone (Marylebone) Osteopathic physician and artist Stephen Ward lived with his latest lover, 19-year-old Christine Keeler, whom he "discovered" two years ago at a club Murray's Cabaret in London's Soho, when she worked there as a dancer. She soon began to show interest and an inappropriate pleasure in the connections between the "tramps" and "aristocrats" Ward introduced her to, who were also party-goers like herself.
This house is number 17, Wimpole Mews (Wimpole Mews) was at the center of the notorious "Profumo Affair" - a sensational political scandal
And one such significant meeting took place on a weekend in July 1961. Cliveden House*, at a country house owned by Lord William Astor, where those present included Stephen Ward, an osteopathic physician to the wealthy and well-connected, Yevgeny Ivanov, the Soviet naval attaché, and, most importantly, the Conservative Secretary of State for War John Profumo and the young dancer Christine Keeler.
Left to right: owner aviation company Hawker aircraft Sir Thomas Sopwith, Chief of the Imperial General Staff Field Marshal Sir Francis Festning and Secretary of State for War John Profumo at a display of military equipment. October 1961.
Whether anyone remembered that summer evening in July 1961, we can only guess. But was it by chance or design that one of Britain’s leading politicians and a former frivolous showgirl met for the first time? And could anyone have predicted that this brief encounter would have such far-reaching consequences that it would shake the British establishment to its foundations?
Lord William Astor's country home in Cliveden House. It was here in July 1961 that Stephen Ward first introduced his girlfriend Christine Keeler to the British Secretary of State for War John Profumo, whose subsequent affair led to a political scandal and his resignation. The picture shows the landscape of Cliveden House. Photo: Evening Standard.
This whole story began on a hot July weekend in 1961, which marked the beginning of events that would later be called “Profumo affair" Escaping the unbearable London heat, Lord Astor decided to use his Cliveden estate for his twenty-five guests, including Pakistani President Ayub Khan and War Secretary John Profumo with his glamorous wife, the beautiful actress Valerie Hobson.
Stephen Ward with Christine Keeler, whom he introduced to Secretary of State for War John Profumo. By the time the photograph was taken, her simultaneous affairs with John Profumo, the British Secretary of State for War, and Yevgeny Ivanov, the Soviet naval attaché, had placed her at the centre of Cold War politics. Photo: Evening Standard
As an exclusive guest at this hot party hosted by Lord Astor, there was one young woman who enjoyed the lavish celebrations held in the magnificent gardens. Cliveden House, where after dinner she swam naked in the palace pool. At first there was no one at the pool except her friend Stephen Ward, but then, hearing laughter, Lord William Astor and John Profumo appeared to see what all the fuss was about. The young woman (it was Christine Keeler) climbed out of the pool, tried to cover herself with a small towel, but Lord Astor and Minister Profumo, who were no longer quite sober, began to mischievously chase her to pull the towel off her. Christine, who had also had a drink, laughed, enjoying what was happening.
The fun continued until women in formal evening dresses approached the pool - these were their wives. Valerie Hobson, John Profumo's wife, covered the naked Christine Keeler with a towel before the other guests arrived. But John Profumo had already noticed Christine and, despite the presence of his wife in the house, offered to give her a tour of the main building of the estate, and during the "tour" he continued to flirt with her...
And here is how Christine Keeler herself recalls this episode:
“I didn’t bring my bathing suit from home, but I had a towel with me. It was small, and I could cover either my chest or my hips with it. Soon Lord Astor and John Profumo appeared near the pool. They were already drunk and, laughing, began to pull the towel off me. I had also already drunk champagne and, laughing merrily, was enjoying this game. Sometimes I even threw off the towel myself, and sometimes I covered myself with it a little. This continued until their wives came to the pool. Alas, our game had to be stopped. But about half an hour later, John Profumo offered to show me the palace. Entering the first room, he began to stroke me below the back.”
Note. Christine Keeler was born in 1942, during World War II, and grew up in two converted railway carriages with her mother and stepfather in the small village of Wraysbury (Wraysbury), 30 kilometers from London. By the age of fifteen, she began running away from home to London to work as a model in a clothing store, where she began a brief affair with the black son of the store owner, and by the age of sixteen, due to a failed relationship with her stepfather and a botched home abortion that resulted in the birth of a premature baby who soon died, she left home for good and got a job as a dancer in a cabaret club Murray's Cabaret in London's Soho, where she had to stand topless on stage as decoration.
This new life of fun and glamour introduced Keeler to the club's many foreign guests, including the wealthy Arab patrons who frequented Murray's Cabaret and, most importantly, Stephen Ward, who was enchanted by Keeler and soon invited her to move into his flat, despite the thirty-year age difference between them. It was not the first time Ward had taken a young woman into his home in the hope of establishing her in the upper echelons of British society - he even used his connections to help her get semi-nude photographs published in Tit Bits magazine..
Photo of Christine Keeler posing for a British magazine Tit Bits
But despite Ward's best efforts, Keeler never made it as a model due to her lack of work ethic. Fast forward to when she moved out of Ward's apartment and into the hands of notorious Jewish landlord Peter Rachman, who became synonymous with exploitation and intimidation of tenants. Rachman showered her with diamonds and kept her until she was replaced by Rice-Davies, a fellow club member of Kristin's. Murray's Cabaret.
Pictured left: Christine Keeler drawing by Stephen Ward. Right: Model Christine Keeler. Photo: Lewis morley
The following day after dinner all the guests met again by the pool, and the celebration that had begun the day before continued again, but they were also joined by Yevgeny Ivanov, an assistant to the naval attaché of the Soviet embassy in Great Britain, who had recently arrived at Lord Astor's estate and had come to meet Ward, who had rented a small house on his estate from Lord Astor. The guests climbed into the pool and, with women on their shoulders, began a wrestling match, trying to push the opposing couples into the water, where, of course, one of the couples was Christina and John Profumo. The winner was the girl who did not get "out of the saddle." During the fun in the pool, many photographs were taken, which depicted Ivanov, Profumo, Christina, Ward and other guests in bathing suits, and some were personally signed by Profumo himself: "Cliveden's new set", but these photographs were later stolen from Ward's apartment...
Yevgeny Mikhailovich Ivanov was a GRU agent who worked under the cover of the assistant naval attaché of the Soviet embassy in Great Britain, receiving information about nuclear warheads from Christine Keeler, who had sexual relations with the British Minister of War John Profumo...
Later that evening, Ward took Ivanov aside and asked him to drive Christine back to London, saying that he needed about an hour's work for a chiropractic session on Lord Astor's back, and persuaded Ivanov to wait for him at his London flat with Christine so that they could play bridge later that evening. Ivanov agreed, but Ward never showed up at his flat. Christine later claimed that Ivanov got a bottle of vodka from the boot of his car, they drank it, and when it became obvious that Ward was not coming to play bridge, they went to bed together.
This is how she recalls this episode in her memoirs:
"We drank and talked about his country. He bragged about the size of Russia, the achievements of the party, the devotion of its people. We drank a glass of vodka, and he was irritated because I kept pouring tonic into my glass. Then he started kissing me. At first he was not very enthusiastic, but it was clear what he wanted, and he got carried away..."
On the third day after the weekend, John Profumo called Christine Keeler and invited her for a drive around London. Profumo was enchanted by Keeler and they began to develop an affair. He took her on a tour of London in his official car, visiting the War Office and Downing Street.I will also show you the army barracks where I conduct military reviews." he told her.
Secretary of State for War John Profumo visits the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC), 1962. Photo: The Publishers Association (PA)
Although their meetings were always clandestine, Profumo became more daring in his choice of locations, and once, emboldened by amorous attraction, Profumo even brought Keeler home for a tryst while his wife and family were on holiday. In a low-key move, he even borrowed the Labour Minister John Hare's car for his love affairs, easily recognizable by the rabbit perched on the windscreen.
John Profumo and his wife Valerie Hobson at the height of the sex scandal
Throughout the summer and autumn, the love affair between Profumo and Keeler lasted against a backdrop of almost operetta-like scenarios: the British minister, with a standing invitation to visit Dr Ward for osteopathic treatments, would come to her flat through the front door, while Ivanov would leave through the back door. Later, at the trial, Profumo explained that “between July and September 1961 he met Miss Keeler about half a dozen times at Dr Ward’s flat, and that he last met her in December 1961.”
Note. There are conflicting reports about how long their love affair lasted...
John Profumo in his office. Photo: The Guardian
Having looked into this story and referring to the recently declassified dossiers, the meticulous Daily Mail reports:
"The KGB (?) used bugs to eavesdrop on bedroom conversations between British Defence Secretary John Profumo and his mistress Christine Keeler. Soviet intelligence agent Eugene (Yevgeny) Ivanov, who was Keeler's lover, urged her to question Profumo about Britain's nuclear arsenal. And judging by what Ivanov and Ward subsequently discussed in Keeler's presence, the Russians obtained a wealth of information that risked seriously weakening Western security, and these facts refute the traditional version that the Profumo affair did not harm Britain."
By the end of 1961, this whole love affair had died down, until in the fall of 1962, against the backdrop of the Cuban rocket The crisis was not preceded by a stabbing between two other black lovers of Keeler's, West Indians, jazz performer "Lucky" Gordon (1931-2017), who ran a drinking and drug den in a rented house in the same building at 17th Street. Wimpole Mews, named Johnny Edgecombe (1932-2010), which attracted the attention of the police, and then parliament and the press.
Left: Jazz performer Aloysius Gordon ("Lucky") and right: drug dealer Johnny Edgecombe.
What brought attention to this case?
The fact is that Christine Keeler, in addition to Ward, Profumo and Ivanov, was simultaneously having love affairs with other men, and it was this tangled web of love affairs and jealousy that provoked the events that led to what later became known as the Profumo Affair.
Keeler complained to Edgecombe that "Lucky" Gordon had invited her to his flat to allegedly look at jewellery, assaulted and raped her, then locked her in his flat naked for 24 hours while he continued to rape her at knifepoint. Edgecombe went to the Flamingo Club where Gordon was performing and confronted him, slashing his face with a knife, requiring 17 stitches. Horrified by what he had done, Edgecombe asked Keeler to help him find a lawyer before handing himself in to the police, but she refused, saying she would give evidence against him, and went back to her friend and lover Stephen Ward in Wimpole Mews, where she had taken temporary refuge...
Police raid on Flamingo jazz club Wardour Street in Westminster, where "Lucky" Gordon performed.
Some time later, an enraged Edgecombe, armed with a Luger semiautomatic pistol, showed up at the door of osteopath Stephen Ward's home just as Keeler and her club friend Murray's Cabaret Mandy Rice-Davies were in the flat. And when she refused to come out, he fired at least five shots into the front door with his pistol in an unsuccessful attempt to force the lock on the door. He then fled the scene but was arrested by police later that evening, setting off the unraveling of Christine Keeler's relationship with the Secretary of State for War John Profumo and the Russian naval attaché Yevgeny Ivanov, and Keeler's failure to appear at his trial at the Old Bailey (Old Bailey)* in March 1963 gave the British press the pretext it needed to publish the story.
Mandy Rice-Davies (right) and Christine Keeler (left) are photographed exclusively by photographer Doreen Spooner. Spotting the pair by chance and adjusting to the dim light in the smoke-filled bar, the photographer focused on the two women chatting to each other before clicking the shutter. Published in Daily Mirror.
The police then took up the case, and their investigation following the shooting, and the coincidence of names that emerged during that investigation, especially that of Yevgeny Ivanov, with whom Keeler had also shared a bed, led to the revelation of what would become the next scandal known as the Profumo Affair. And this scandalous love triangle was already beginning to raise concerns for national security, as it was alleged that Keeler may have been trying to pass on nuclear secrets obtained during bedtime conversations with John Profumo.
'Lucky' Gordon at the Old Bailey in London in 1963 after being charged with assaulting his former lover Christine Keeler. Photo: John Franks.
However, what prevented this love affair from being swept under the carpet was that Profumo was the Minister of War, privy to many state secrets, and Keeler was involved with the Soviet naval attaché Yevgeny Ivanov. It should be noted that long before the scandal, Keeler on the street Wimpole Mews with her two black lovers, there were rumors of bed talk—had Keeler wormed out some secrets from the Minister of War and then passed them on to a Russian spy? The first rumors to reach Fleet Street*, but thanks to the (then) British tradition of respecting the privacy of British politicians, the story did not make the headlines. All went well until five months later, when an incident at Stephen Ward's flat dispelled any hopes of a cover-up...
Street Fleet Street, where at that time the offices of all British newspapers were located
At the trial at the Old Bailey, Johnny Edgecombe was acquitted of assaulting Gordon but sentenced to seven years in prison for possession and use of a firearm. weapons, but Keeler did not appear in court, which again fueled the press's interest in the case. But this is exactly what the newspapers were waiting for - the incident gave the best journalists an opportunity Fleet Street to delve deeper into the long-circulating rumors of a love triangle Profumo-Keeler-Ivanova, and the very next day the story hit the front pages of British newspapers.
British newspapers with scandalous headlines about the "Profumo affair"
Note. As soon as the first rumors about the love affairs of Profumo, Keeler and Ivanov began to circulate, the American tabloid National Enquirer published the story in its yellow pages several months before it became public knowledge...
Although the British press did not publish the story (out of fear of libel and respect for politicians), some newspaper editors did inform opposition Labour Party member George Wigg, who used his parliamentary privilege.*, to raise the issue in the House of Commons, citing potential national security concerns. And then things started to get crazy!
George Edward Cecil Wigg (George Edward Cecil Wigg, 1900–1983) was a British MP who used his powers to expose the Profumo affair to Parliament, which led to Profumo's prosecution and ultimately to his resignation.
George Wigg, in an apparent attack on the Tories in Parliament, forced Profumo into action by raising the rumours surrounding Profumo's relationship with Keeler, not, as he claimed, to embarrass the Minister of Defence, but because the affair with Ivanov was a matter of national security. Profumo, in his reply, told Parliament that he knew Keeler, but categorically denied that there had been any "indecency" in their relationship, and that he would not hesitate to sue if anything to the contrary was reported in the newspapers. As a result of his statement, the newspapers decided not to print anything about John Profumo and Christine Keeler for fear of being sued for libel.
But George Wigg was not like that - he refused to let the matter slide and again raised the issue of Profumo's relationship with Keeler, repeating that it was not an attack on the minister's private life, but a matter of national security.
Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies leave the Old Bailey
But then, under pressure from the press, Keeler's friend from Murray's Cabaret, Mandy Rice-Davies, blurted out that Keeler had had sexual relations with Profumo and Ivanov, which then prompted Keeler to admit that she had indeed been seeing both men. Thus, what had once been London cocktail party gossip became a scandal of colossal proportions...
Christine Keeler's friend from Murray's Cabaret, Mandy Rice-Davies, testified in court that Keeler had sexual relations with both Minister Profumo and Ivanov. Photo: The Mirror
Following Mandy Rice-Davies's testimony, Profumo was forced to admit to Parliament that Keeler had been his mistress and that he had lied to the House of Commons. Sex, lies and a Soviet spy were just the thing to bring down the government, and Profumo was forced to resign, which he did on 4 June 1963.
British models and dancers Mandy Rice-Davies and Christine Keeler, embroiled in the Stephen Ward and Profumo affair, leave the Central Criminal Court during Ward's trial in London, surrounded by journalists and onlookers. Photo: Ronald Dumont Daily Express
The next day Daily Mirror wrote:
"What the hell is going on in this country? All power corrupts, and the Tories have been in power for nearly twelve years."
Now, with the Secretary of State for War resigning, pressure was put on Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, but he refused to resign, but realising that he had to do something, he invited the distinguished British lawyer and judge Lord Denning to head an inquiry into 'the circumstances leading to the resignation of the former Secretary of State for War, Mr J. D. Profumo'.
Lord Denning (Alfred Thompson Denning, 1899-1999) was the most famous judge of the 1963th century and is remembered by the public chiefly for his investigation of the Profumo affair in XNUMX.
Denning's investigation concluded that there had been no security breach involving Ivanov and that the main responsibility for the scandal lay with Profumo, who had made a false statement to the House of Commons. Denning's patently whitewashed report, published in September 1963, was widely criticised as a "whitewash", but it still allowed Macmillan to remain prime minister.
Lord Denning's Report on the Profumo Affair
Something about Evgeniy Ivanov
«He was an inveterate party animal and a good singer, ready to perform after a shot or two of vodka. He and his wife Maya were good hosts and equally good guests, welcoming, friendly, and both capable of long and intelligent conversation." — this is how Yevgeny Ivanov, who arrived in London in 1960 as an assistant to the naval attaché, was described. But the British MI5 she had her own opinion on this matter - she suspected that he was a Soviet intelligence officer, because he had no idea about navy and didn't understand ships at all.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Ivanov at one of the diplomatic receptions
He was initially appointed an intelligence officer at a level consistent with his military rank and position as assistant naval attaché. However, once he became a close friend of the osteopath and artist Stephen Ward, who treated almost all of Britain's "high society", Soviet intelligence granted him special powers to further develop the friendship and gave him complete freedom to act outside the social behavior of an ordinary Soviet diplomat in order to exploit Ward's social connections.
Evgeny Ivanov. Photo from declassified archive MI5
Yevgeny Ivanov had several character traits that the Soviet intelligence chiefs considered useful for his appointment to Britain, as his lively personality contrasted sharply with the level-headed Soviet diplomats working at the embassy, and was combined with his excellent knowledge of English.
Evgeny Ivanov with his wife Maya, née Gorkina, daughter of the Chairman of the Supreme Court of the USSR, at a diplomatic reception.
Here is an excerpt from the book "Naked Spy. Russian version. Memories of a GRU agent", written by him in collaboration with G. E. Sokolov:
"While working in London, assistant naval attaché Yevgeny Mikhailovich Ivanov came into possession of devastatingly powerful compromising material - documented information about the secret sexual pleasures of the powerful. The scandalous porn collection of royal photographer Baron Neichum came into his hands* and other documents discrediting the British government."
In a recently published British newspaper Daily Mail declassified documents MI5 It tells how British counterintelligence tried to recruit Ivanov long before the Profumo Affair, having heard how he got drunk at parties and loved to “propose, pinch and dance with women,” and during one of the diplomatic receptions he even tried to seduce the wife of the American ambassador, and also, I quote, “almost caressed” the wife of the French attaché.
At one of the diplomatic receptions, Yevgeny Ivanov kisses the wife of the American ambassador
Here is another quote from G. E. Sokolov’s book “Spy Number One”, characterizing Ivanov’s successful work:
"The information he received was a real treasure trove of compromising material on the powers that be. The use of this data by Soviet intelligence promised promising prospects. A regular in high society, he managed to discredit a number of high-ranking individuals, in particular, such an influential behind-the-scenes politician of Great Britain as Lord Astor.
The incriminating evidence collected by our hero put the House of Windsor at risk, in particular the husband of the English Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret. The then President of the United States of America, John Kennedy, was also under threat of using the scandalous incriminating evidence and subsequent discrediting by the yellow press. During the terrible days of the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises, "Mr. Ivanov" thanks to his contacts established a secret channel of communication between London and the Kremlin, working to prevent a nuclear war... With his affair with the mistress of the British Minister of War, Christine Keeler, he destroyed the career of the Minister of War, John Profumo, who dreamed of becoming Prime Minister, and "overthrew" the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan, which was unpopular with Moscow, opening the way to power for the Kremlin's favorite, the leader of the Labor Party, Harold Wilson."
The incriminating evidence collected by our hero put the House of Windsor at risk, in particular the husband of the English Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret. The then President of the United States of America, John Kennedy, was also under threat of using the scandalous incriminating evidence and subsequent discrediting by the yellow press. During the terrible days of the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crises, "Mr. Ivanov" thanks to his contacts established a secret channel of communication between London and the Kremlin, working to prevent a nuclear war... With his affair with the mistress of the British Minister of War, Christine Keeler, he destroyed the career of the Minister of War, John Profumo, who dreamed of becoming Prime Minister, and "overthrew" the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan, which was unpopular with Moscow, opening the way to power for the Kremlin's favorite, the leader of the Labor Party, Harold Wilson."
In addition to the above, it is necessary to add that Ivanov came from the ancient noble family of Golenishchev-Kutuzov, yes, from the same one to which his famous relative, Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, belonged.
Valerie Hobson, John Profumo's wife, shakes hands with Yuri Gagarin at a reception in honor of the first cosmonaut at the Soviet Embassy in London. Also present at the reception were E. Ivanov and J. Profumo. July 1961.
Being a "good guy", Ivanov was also in a love affair with Christine Keeler's club friend Murray's Cabaret - Mandy Rice-Davies, who was very impressed by Ivanov, where in her autobiography "Mandy", published in 1980, she admits that:
"Eugene (Eugene) was one of the most charming people I have ever met. Very, very handsome, like James Bond, very easy to talk to, warm, humorous, generous... With Eugene, Stephen's (Ward) usually light-hearted personality took on a more serious tone, and they discussed important political concepts in great depth. The effect was infectious, and I joined in these intense discussions with enthusiasm."
Mandy Rice-Davies (Mandy Rice Davies), known for her role in the 1960s Profumo Affair, which nearly led to the fall of the British government in 1963. Photo: The Guardian
Well, a little more about Ivanov: before his appointment to Great Britain, he held the same position as a naval assistant attaché in Norway, where he tried to seduce the wife of the Norwegian Prime Minister...
And finally, I will give one more quote from the former chairman of the KGB of the USSR V. E. Semichastny, who held this post in 1961–1967 and gave an interview in the early 90s:
"Ivanov was unlucky. If the KGB residency in London had gotten access to such sources and collected the kind of dirt that Ivanov managed to get, the British would have had a hard time. It's a pity that Ivanov didn't work for us..."
What happened to Stephen Ward?
On the night of Tuesday 30 July 1963, Dr Stephen Ward wrote a series of suicide notes in the Chelsea flat of his friend Noel Howard-Jones, apologising for what he was about to do. He then took 94 Nembutal sleeping tablets and lay down to die on the sofa in the front room...
On the left is Stephen Ward in the 50s. He is also on the right, standing next to Christine Keeler.
Earlier, on 22 July 1963, Stephen Ward appeared at London's Old Bailey, accused of being a pimp and living off the proceeds of prostitution. His trial attracted considerable attention because it took place at the height of the Profumo scandal, and many of the key witnesses – Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies, and Ward himself – were already well known to the public.
Left: Stephen Ward. Right: Dr. Stephen Ward in his apartment, on Wimpole Mews, London, June 22, 1963
As mentioned above, Ward was an osteopathic physician and the founder of manual therapy in Britain, whose clients included Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye and Thomas Beecham. Lord Astor, on whose estate the famous meeting between Minister Profumo and the prostitute Keeler took place, was also his patient and even rented a small cottage on his estate to Ward for a small fee.
Stephen Ward and Christine Keeler during their trial at the Old Bailey in London.
Note. When Ward brought Ivanov to Churchill's house, and at the moment when he was examining and straightening the famous politician's back, Ivanov was successfully "inspecting" his office.
Ward was also a very skilled portraitist - Peter Sellers, Sophia Loren and Prince Philip (the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Elizabeth II) all posed for him. After painting several portraits, Ward wanted to paint another portrait of the then leader of the Soviet Union, N. S. Khrushchev, and the editor The Daily Telegraph, where he worked as an artist, introduced him to Yevgeny Ivanov, assistant naval attaché at the Soviet embassy...
Stephen Ward was also a fine artist, but lawyers acting on behalf of Ward, who committed suicide in 1963 while on trial, considered the portraits sensitive and ordered them removed from public display. Photo: Daily Mail
Ward drove a Jaguar, wore sunglasses and went to jazz clubs - in short, he was a member of the new post-war British bohemian scene, a "gay bachelor" in the jargon of the time. Affable and funny, he was always a welcome guest on the fringes of London society, but it was his own parties, where a string of pretty young girls greased the wheels of social life, that made him a man everyone knew. He hobnobbed with influential people, attracted "party girls" and seemed to enjoy introducing one group to another in his flat on the Wimpole Mews, in the cabaret clubs of London's Soho or in the cottage he rented from Lord Astor on his large estate, Cliveden.
At the trial, the prosecutor described Ward in his speech as "filth" and a representative of "the greatest depths of depravity and licentiousness," and the fact that he had single women living in his apartment was, according to the prosecutors, evidence of a lack of morals, and his bachelor life was further evidence of his fall. To add to the exoticism, there was a racial element to the story - two West Indian blacks.
A huge froth of moral outrage as Stephen Ward leaves court in police custody, heading to Brixton Prison (HM Prison Brixton). Photo: The Telegraph
"In fact, Stephen Ward was a spy who had befriended many prominent and influential people in the British government, and he took me to dinner parties where lords and ladies hurried to finish their dinner courses so that they could begin their orgies..."
This is how Christine Keeler described Stephen Ward in her memoirs...
But according to one of his girlfriends, Mandy Rice-Davies, it turns out to be something completely different:
"Just being in his company was absolutely mesmerizing. Everyone loved Stephen."
Before taking a lethal dose of Nembutal, Ward wrote in his suicide note: "I'm sorry to disappoint the vultures"...
With Ward hospitalized for poisoning, Mr Justice Marshall continued the trial, in which the jury found Ward guilty of charges related to Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies. In court, Keeler admitted having sex with John Profumo and two other men, all of whom gave her money and gifts.
Christine Keeler, accompanied by two police officers, heads to court
Under cross-examination, she admitted that some of the money was paid to Ward for rent, electricity and food while she lived in his flat. Rice-Davies was told she would only be released from prison if she agreed to testify, and she also admitted to receiving gifts and money, some of which she gave to Ward for unpaid rent.
Christine Keeler is escorted to a court hearing by a police officer
Stephen Ward's high-society "friends" stayed away from the trial for fear of being tainted by the scandal, and none of them even came to testify on his behalf, as Judge Archibald Pellow Marshall noted in his closing speech:
"If Stephen Ward was telling the truth in the witness box, there are many witnesses in this city, high and low, who could come forward and testify in support of his testimony."
Thus, Ward's very convenient death on August 3, 1963 seemed a fitting end to an unorthodox trial...
Stephen Ward's funeral took place at Mortlake Cemetery (Mortlake Cemetery) in August 1963 and attracted just six mourners. This eminent osteopath and master portrait painter, a favourite of London society throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, died by his own hand, having taken a fatal dose of poison. On the grave lay a wreath of XNUMX white carnations and a card signed by his friend, the British actor and producer Kenneth Tynan. It read simply:
«To Stephen Ward, victim of hypocrisy.»
Note. In 2017, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said it found no evidence the prosecution was politically motivated, but if Ward were alive today he might seek to challenge his conviction at the Court of Appeal on other grounds...
Newly declassified documents reveal that "at least 40" ministers or MPs were patients or met in the flat of Stephen Ward, an osteopath and "fixer" with close links to the Soviet embassy who was at the centre of the Profumo sex and spy scandal of the 1960s.
Political Consequences of the Profumo Affair
For many, the love-spy scandal marked the end of an era when the inner circle of the British establishment could keep its misdeeds quiet and a curious public at bay, where the traditional way stood against an assertive press and the less respectful culture of the 60s. The scandal is also seen as a catalyst for change in the relationship between the press and politicians, where distrust of those in power was increasingly the accepted norm.
The Profumo affair had a profound impact on the political landscape in Britain in its intensity, and can be placed alongside the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the death of Winston Churchill in 1965, as part of the post-war cultural transition from traditional Britain to modern Britain.
The then Prime Minister Macmillan (1894-1986) was widely criticised by the British public for his handling of his minister's love triangle, and was denounced in the press and in Parliament as old, out of touch and incompetent, and resigned under pressure from his own government in October. He was replaced by the Conservative Alec Douglas-Home, but the 1964 general election saw the Moscow-unpopular Conservatives' 13-year rule ended and they were ousted by the Labour Party under the Kremlin's favourite Harold Wilson, who had made a significant shift in British foreign policy.
In conclusion, the impact of the Profumo Affair on British politics has gone far beyond the initial scandal, leaving an indelible mark on the political and cultural landscape of the United Kingdom. Its profound impact on the Prime Minister’s Office, the political parties involved and society at large has made it a defining event in British political history. The scandal has also led to stricter vetting procedures for senior civil servants, with a greater emphasis on transparency and accountability in government...
The further fate of the characters
John Profumo (1915-2006). According to the obituary published in The Guardian, The Profumo affair, as it came to be known, exposed the moral corruption of the British political establishment of the time. But before his name became synonymous with scandal, John Profumo had lived a full and distinguished life, serving in the army and in Parliament, and, unlike Ward, he had a happier fate: his wife, Valerie, had stood by her husband nobly, and their marriage had survived, although she knew full well that his affair with Keeler was not his first and probably not his last. And Profumo, as befitted the reserved generation of the time, maintained a dignified public silence about the whole affair for the rest of his life.
John Profumo with his wife Valerie Hobson. 70s
To quietly rehabilitate himself, Profumo embarked on a path to redemption - he went to work as a volunteer at a social center Toynbee Hall in the poor East End, rising from a position as a toilet cleaner to become the charity's chairman and chief fundraiser, devoting more than four decades of his life to charitable work. Many of his political friends shunned him, but some, notably the Queen (Elizabeth II) and the Queen Mother (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), refused to abandon him, and eventually his redemption was recognised and his rehabilitation rewarded when he was awarded an OBE for his charitable work in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1975. John Profumo, remembered for the scandal that bears his name, died a dignified man in 2006, aged 91...
Left: John Profumo, 1996. Right: the same man shortly before his death, 2006.
Christine Keeler (1942-2017). Keeler, meanwhile, alternately reveled in and recoiled from her disgrace. She loved the publicity, but she was dismayed that Lord Denning, who had been pursuing the case seriously, had overshadowed stories of a romantic love triangle and espionage with tales of smut, and she set about dotting the i's and crossing the t's. She received £23 from the tabloids. News of the World and another £13 from Sunday Mirror (former Sunday Pictorial), but quickly spent the money and ended up living in a municipal apartment with her youngest son.
Christine Keeler in her mature years
Keeler herself was denounced as a "slut" and moral deviant in a Britain that had not yet experienced a sexual revolution, a reputation that would haunt her for the rest of her life. She even changed her name to avoid the notoriety, but was predictably mortified when Margaret Thatcher invited Profumo to her 70th birthday party in 1995, with Thatcher saying: "He is one of our national heroes. He has lived a very good life. It is time to forget the Keeler affair."
After her release, she married twice and gave birth to two children.
The femme fatale who broke so many hearts passed away in 2017 at the age of 75, and after her death, a London gallery held an exhibition called “My Life in Photographs,” which featured nude photos of her. The exhibition also included letters, riddled with spelling and grammar errors, that she wrote to her parents from Holloway Prison under the name of prisoner number 7904.
Here is how Christine's son Seymour Platt speaks about her, having recently spoken about his mother during an appearance on a popular TV show. Good Morning Britain:
“My mother was even naive when I knew her. I was born 10 years after these events. But the woman I knew was a devoted mother. She was quite distinctive, eccentric, funny and loved to drive. We laughed so much. My mother was probably the most honest person I have ever met in my life. She would tell terrible secrets to anyone, especially if they were not her secrets. I wish people remembered her more fondly. She was a woman of her time – it was a different time.”
Former model Christine Keeler's low-key lifestyle...
Mandy Rice-Davies (1944–2014) Of the many characters at the heart of the notorious Profumo Affair, Mandy Rice-Davies made the best use of the fame the story brought her.
Mandy Rice-Davies years after scandal
While Porfumo lost his job to cleaning toilets for a charity, and her friend, the osteopath Stephen Ward, committed suicide, Rice-Davies exploited her fame to the full: she worked as a singer in a German nightclub, later moved to Spain, and then settled in Israel, where she married an Israeli airline flight attendant and with whom she opened restaurants, nightclubs and a glamour magazine. She learned Hebrew and converted to Judaism, but the marriage ended after the birth of her daughter Dana. She had a series of grateful lovers after that, and in 1988, in Florida, Rice-Davies married for the third and most successful time, to Kenneth Forman, the Jewish owner of a waste-disposal company.
British actor Michael Caine with Mandy Rice-Davies at the disco she managed in Tel Aviv, November 1968. Photo: Associated Press
In addition to his memoirs - The Mandy Report, published in 1964, she wrote a thriller in 1987 Today and Tomorrow, and in 1989 the historical novel The Scarlet Thread, which takes place in Palestine in 1914 and is permeated with its philosemitism. She died on December 18, 2014, from lung cancer in hospital, leaving behind her daughter Dana and husband Kenneth...
E. M. Ivanov (1926-1994). As soon as the story of this love triangle appeared in the newspapers, Yevgeny Mikhailovich was urgently recalled to Moscow, where upon his return his wife Maya filed for divorce, the marriage fell apart, and he continued his service in the GRU, and there were even rumors that he was awarded the Order of Lenin. And according to Brian Freemantle, a British journalist specializing in intelligence issues, he was sent back to work, but under a different name in Tokyo.
Evgeny Ivanov in the 90s...
Here's what the aforementioned journalist Brian Freemantle wrote about him:
"Ivanov may not have gained any military secrets from his shared connection with Christine Keeler, but his other success was enormous - it caused enormous embarrassment to the British Conservative government and led to the resignation of the War Minister and later to the fall of the Conservative cabinet."
Thirty years after this spy sex scandal, in the summer of 30, Christine came to Moscow as a tourist, where in the Moscow office of the newspaper Daily Express her nostalgic meeting with Evgeny took place. The former lovers strolled along Red Square, but Ivanov did not invite Keeler to his home, citing the poverty of his bachelor apartment. Well, Christine, recalling this meeting, wrote:
"...At 67, Evgeny had changed a lot, he had grown fat and grey. He was no longer the mighty Russian bear who had once lain in bed with me... He confessed to me that he felt guilty about sleeping with me and betraying his wife...
...When his wife found out that he was sleeping with me, she left him in an instant, and he never married again..."
...When his wife found out that he was sleeping with me, she left him in an instant, and he never married again..."
Before his resignation, Yevgeny Ivanov held the position of head of department in the GRU
Evgeny Ivanov died in January 1994. According to some sources, the cause of death was alcohol abuse...
Well, and finally, a few confirmed rumors...
The scandal that brought down Her Majesty's Conservative government did not end with one minister, but came right to the steps of the royal palace, but this mysterious figure at the time, linked to the love affairs of the early 60s, did not need to be the news and did not want his name to be known to the newspapers. We are talking about the relationship between Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, with the dancer Christine Keeler, who had several lovers, including the GRU officer Yevgeny Ivanov. And, as many believe, at the center of this press-hyped "Profumo Affair" was not the Minister of War at all, but a much more significant figure, who got into a very piquant situation because of his dubious acquaintances and scandalous behavior.
Pictured left: Queen Elizabeth II congratulates Prince Philip and presents him with a trophy after a polo match. Right: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip laugh as they watch a tightrope act performed by two young recruits during their visit to a military camp in Wales in the spring of 1963.
It is believed that it was through Stephen Ward that the adventure-seeking Prince Philip was drawn into this love-spy affair. They knew each other well enough, as Ward, who was also a talented artist, had visited Buckingham Palace on numerous occasions to paint portraits of some members of the royal family.
Left: Prince Philip - sketch by Stephen Ward. Right: the same - in a naval officer's uniform.
The British newspaper writes about these sketches, made by Stephen Ward: Daily Mail:
"On the last weekend of July 1963, a tall, well-dressed man walked into a gallery in London's West End to view an exhibition of sketches by Stephen Ward, a society osteopath and artist. In what was described as a 'lightning deal', the stranger walked around the exhibition, selected all the royal portraits on sale, paid £5040 in five-pound notes for them - the equivalent of £87 today - and took them, refusing to give his name. The paintings have not been seen since."
Among the documents declassified in the early 2000s is a memo sent by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover that says Ward implicated the Duke of Edinburgh in the scandal, and that Prince Philip had affairs with Christine Keeler and model Mandy Rice-Davies through Ward, with serious implications during the Cold War. The FBI document is held in Britain's National Archives, which is not available for public inspection and will not be opened until 2046...
Christine Keeler, dancer and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
Note. Christine Keeler's son has claimed that "more evidence" has emerged linking Prince Philip to the Profumo affair, but that the evidence has never been presented to him.
Even now, more than 60 years later, when it would seem that all the secrets have been revealed and all the dirty details have been thoroughly examined, the Profumo Affair remains as dark and intriguing as ever...
And I would like to finish with a quote from the newspaper The Guardian:
"...And what I loved about this story is that it feels like the perfect storm of public scandal with all the right ingredients, sex, race and politics, but at its core it's a story of human weakness..."
Information
*Secretary of State for War. This is what the Minister of War was called in Great Britain until 1964
*"Law on Betting and Gambling" was passed by parliament in 1960 to remove gambling from the streets. Once this law came into force, fines would be imposed on any street gambling.
*Cliveden House - built in the Victorian style in the mid-19th century by Charles Barry, the architect of the Palace of Westminster. By the end of the 19th century, the palace was sold to Lord Astor, who invested heavily in decorating the estate, after which, Cliveden House became a favourite hangout for London's high society, used for entertainment on a grand scale.
The combination of the palace, its setting and the leisure opportunities offered by the estate - boating on the Thames, horse riding, tennis, swimming, croquet and fishing - made Cliveden House a place of entertainment for film stars, politicians, writers and artists, which flourished between the two world wars, when the Astors regularly hosted weekend house parties. The palace was visited by Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, Joseph Kennedy, George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi, Amy Johnson (the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia), F.D. Roosevelt, H.H. Asquith (Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916), T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), A.J. Balfour and the writers Henry James, Rudyard Kipling and Edith Wharton. It is currently Cliveden House It is equipped as a five-star hotel, but the tradition of visiting the house by high-ranking guests continues to this day.
*Old Bailey (Old Bailey) The central criminal court in the City of London, which deals with serious criminal cases
crimes that have caused widespread public outcry. The court's jurisdiction extends throughout England and Wales
*Fleet Street - a street in the City of London where printing began to develop in 1500 and flourished for the next 200 years. And in the early XNUMXth century the first daily newspapers were printed here
*Baron Neichum (Sterling Henry Nahum, Stirling Henry Nahum, 1906-1956) - professionally known as "The Baron" was a society and court photographer in the United Kingdom, taking official photographs for many occasions, such as the wedding of Philip and Princess Elizabeth in 1947, the christening of their children Charles and Anne and other occasions. He came from a family of Italian Jews who had moved to England and was a close personal friend of the Duke of Edinburgh. His clients included Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, General Franco, Bernard Shaw and many others. "The Baron" was also passionate about pornography and also had a good collection of titillating pictures, no one knows where they have disappeared to... He died on September 5, 1956 in London due to complications from a hip operation.
*Parliamentary Privileges - in the UK, an agreement enshrined in the Bill of Rights 1689 that MPs (or Lords) cannot be sued for libel for statements made during debates or questions in parliament. Parliamentary privilege protects speeches made by an MP in the course of parliamentary business
References
1. E. M. Ivanov and G. E. Sokolov “Naked Spy. Russian version. Memories of a GRU agent»
2. G. E. Sokolov "Spy number one»
3. Materials from American and British newspapers
Information