The Spy Who Painted the Queen

The only book to examine MI5's secret evidence that high society painter Philip de Laszlo was an Austrian spy in World War I—with a shocking conclusion

In 1917, noted society portrait painter Philip de László, who painted such luminaries as the Pope, the Austrian emperor, King Edward VII, and Prince Louis Battenberg, was subjected to a secret tribunal which interned him for trading with the enemy. De László had pulled strings to be naturalized as British at the outbreak of World War I, but in 1919 he was referred to a public committee to revoke his naturalization. With the aid of skilled lawyer de László had the application overturned—however, newly discovered records show MI5 had evidence obtained from a top secret source that alleged that he was supplying the enemy with important information on politics and industrial production. Crucially, the source’s anonymity prevented MI5 from presenting evidence to the tribunal. But was de László a secret agent and was MI5’s source really as they claimed? Did an enemy spy really paint the portrait of the young Princess Elizabeth? With previously unpublished information, this book explores these allegations and reaches a shocking conclusion.