Those who are long enough in the tooth will remember the Conservative politician, John Profumo, largely because of his affair with model, Christine Keeler, in 1961. This affair, and Profumo's lies to parliament, led to his political downfall. Although Profumo did more than enough to redeem himself in the following years, it is for the "Profumo Affair" that he will be best remembered. The story was, after all, a combination of sex, spies, security leaks and all of these involving the secretary of state for war. No wonder writers and filmmakers have been inspired by the story!
Of greater interest to me are the recently declassified MI5 documents which suggest that John Profumo had had a long relationship with a glamorous Nazi spy called Gisela Winegard. Gisela might, apparently, have tried to blackmail him. Had these allegations been made in 1961, there is no doubt that they would have added to the media frenzy. The newly released MI5 documents describe Gisela as clever, witty, companionable and of striking appearance and that she used male friends to help make ends meet!
Gisela Winegard was a German-born fashion and photographer’s model. She apparently met John Profumo in Oxford in 1936 when he was an undergraduate. It seems they kept in contact for at least 20 years and, in these years, she apparently ran a Nazi information service in occupied Paris, had a child with a German officer, and was imprisoned for espionage on the liberation of Paris in 1944. Of course, I have only read about these new documents and cannot verify their existence. The whole article could be a fabrication! True or not, the article could also be of interest to the spy novelist looking for his/her next plot.
After resigning as an MP, Profumo dedicated his life to charity work and was awarded a CBE in 1975. He died in 2006, aged 91.
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