Espionage No Regrets Kim Philby: 1912-1988

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Given his breeding and education, and the clubby atmosphere of British intelligence at the time, Philby's youthful political excesses were overlooked, and by 1940, at 28, he was established as an agent. Colleagues disregarded his drinking and womanizing (he married four times and had several mistresses, including Maclean's wife Melinda), and often spoke of his intelligence and charm. But as Philby explained when he first emerged from silence in 1967, he felt no love for his native land. "To betray you must first belong," he said. "I never belonged."

Rarely seen in public in Moscow, Philby enjoyed all the privileges of a favored bureaucrat, including an apartment in the capital and a dacha, and never once regretted his decision. "I want to be buried in the Soviet Union, in this country which I have considered to be my own since the 1930s," he said. Last week he got his wish, after a funeral with full military honors.