Graham Greene and MI6 : the Iberian connection

Between 1976 and 1989 the English novelist Graham Greene (1904-1991) travelled to the Iberian Peninsula for relaxation in the company of his Spanish friend, the priest and professor of the Complutense University Leopoldo Durán Justo (1917-2008). He made a total of fifteen trips, almost always in summer, and the first of them inspired him to write what would be his major Hispanic novel, Monsignor Quixote (1982). Shortly after Greene's death in 1991, Durán produced the memoir of their friendship, Graham Greene: Friend and Brother (1994) and developed anecdotes he had already recounted in press articles, but did not give a detailed chronicle of each journey and chose to present an idealized account with many major gaps. One of these is the original reason why Greene undertook his yearly habit of travelling to the Peninsula. Was it his need to rest with someone who was at first almost a stranger, or was there another purpose? The aim of this article is to shed light on this issue, and to raise the possibility that, in order to give a convincing answer, Greene's link to the British Secret Service and his work as an agent or informant must be considered.