The Profumo Affair Nearly Brought Down The U.K. Government – And There May Still Be A Cover-Up
With Britain on the cusp of the Swinging Sixties, a scandalous affair emerged that pitted the conservative values of the past against the sexual freedom of the future. Just a teenager at the time, Christine Keeler found herself at the center of a story that would end more than one political career. And now, reports have emerged of an alleged cover-up that continues to this day.
Starting At Cliveden
The story began on July 8, 1961, at Cliveden, the Buckinghamshire estate of Lord Astor. That weekend, the English aristocrat was hosting a party in honor of the president of Pakistan, Ayub Khan. Meanwhile, just down the river but still on Cliveden’s grounds, its resident osteopath Stephen Ward was hosting a separate party at his cottage. And between the two sets of guests were a man and woman who would become inextricably linked for decades to come.
Young Guest
You see, one of Ward’s guests was Keeler, a 19-year-old aspiring model who worked as a topless dancer at a London club. Now, Ward was also a society osteopath who counted Astor and several other celebrities among his patients. And for months the teenager had been living with the much older Ward at his London flat in Marylebone. However, she claimed that it was purely a platonic relationship.
Meeting Profumo
In the evening at Cliveden, Ward took his guests up to the main building to use the swimming pool, for which he had permission. And there, Keeler crossed paths with John Profumo, an up-and-coming member of the Conservative Party and the British secretary of state for war. At the time, the 46-year-old was married to movie star Valerie Hobson. However, that didn’t stop him from developing an immediate attraction to Ward’s friend.
Competing Suitors
Interestingly, Profumo wasn’t the only man to have his eye on Keeler that weekend at Cliveden. You see, among Ward’s other guests was Eugene Ivanov, a Russian naval attaché from the embassy. But there were also claims that he worked for the Soviet intelligence services, which kranked this story up a notch further.
