Christine Granville: The Polish aristocrat who was Churchill's favourite spy - BBC News

Christine Granville risked her life in missions across Europe only to be killed by her former lover.

3 days agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWorld War TwoImage source, Apic/Getty ImagesBy Tim StokesBBC NewsBritain's longest-serving World War Two spy, Christine Granville, risked her life countless times carrying out missions across Europe, yet today her contribution is barely known. Who was she and why does the nation owe her such a great debt?

On 15 June 1952, Granville returned to the west London hotel she called home, her flight to Belgium having been cancelled due to engine failure.

After making her way to her usual room on the first floor, she heard a man in the lobby shouting her name and demanding the return of some letters. Downstairs, she found herself faced by her former lover who suddenly thrust a commando knife into her chest, fatally wounding her.

Having survived many perilous situations on three different fronts during the course of World War Two, it was a bitter irony that she should lose her life in the apparent safety of a Kensington hotel.

Image source, Apic/Getty ImagesImage caption, Granville worked for MI6 on several occasions in France, where agents had an average life-expectancy of only six weeksBorn in May 1908 as Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, she was the daughter of a Polish count and, through her mother, an heir to a Jewish banking family. She spent her early years running free on a grand country estate, a childhood that would profoundly influence her later life.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67298675?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

---