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A newly released FBI memo suggests that Prince Philip may have been involved in the Profumo affair.
The landmark sex scandal involved John Profumo, the then 46-year-old Secretary of State for War, who had an affair with teenage model Christine Keeler in 1961.
Profumo was forced to resign and the affair threatened to topple the Macmillan government when it was revealed that the 19-year-old was also sleeping with a Russian spy.
The couple were introduced by osteopath Stephen Ward, whose friendship with Prince Philip featured in the Netflix series The Crown.
Decades after the scandal, the Mail on Sunday obtained a cable sent by the then FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover, sensationally suggesting royal involvement.
A cable sent to the US embassy in London on June 20, 1963, reads: “Corbally also stated that there was a rumour that Prince Philip might have been involved with these two girls.”
The second girl referred to is Mandy Rice-Davies, a fellow show host who was also at the centre of the scandal.
The claims reiterated by Hoover come from Thomas Corbally, an American businessman who was also a friend of Ward.
Following the scandal, Ward was arrested and charged with living off the earnings of prostitution.
He took an overdose of sleeping pills during the trial and died before being officially sentenced.
She introduced Keeler to Profumo at a party in 1961, but the teenager was also having an affair with Soviet spy Yevgeny Ivanov at the time.
In The Crown, Prince Philip is threatened by another Soviet spy who warns him that his relationship with Ward will be exposed.
The Duke of Edinburgh's involvement in the scandal has long been a source of speculation, but new documents have brought the matter back into the spotlight.
The crucial memo was sent more than 60 years ago but has since remained hidden in the US Justice Department archives. It was made available through a freedom of information request by the Mail on Sunday which they say took five years to obtain.
Ward was an acquaintance of the prince and the two had even had their portraits painted by an artist at Buckingham Palace.
Keeler had lived with Ward in his London flat and cottage in the grounds of the Cliveden estate, where she met Profumo.
Profumo denied the affair in the House of Commons in March 1963, but was found to have lied in June.
Ward later faced charges of immorality as, although Keeler was not a prostitute, she had benefited from the generosity of wealthy men.
