The Prince of Wales sought advice from Jimmy Savile shortly after the Duke of York made ill-advised comments about the Lockerbie bombing, according to newly unearthed letters.
Savile, the late BBC presenter now known for his prolific sex offending, wrote a media relations “handbook” for Charles, 73, who went on to “incorporate” some of the advice in a memo that was shown to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
According to letters spanning a period of 20 years, Savile, the former *Top of the Pops* host, appeared to take on a role as unofficial adviser to the future king. Details of the correspondence are revealed in a new Netflix documentary, *Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story*. The director, Rowan Deacon, gained access to dozens of letters in which the prince regularly sought guidance from the presenter.
*Jimmy Savile gave royals advice on dealing with media*
On January 14, 1987, the Prince of Wales sent Jimmy Savile a letter. “Perhaps I am wrong,” he wrote from Sandringham in his spidery script, “but you are the bloke who knows what’s going on. What I really need is a list of suggestions from you. I so want to get to parts of the country that others don’t get to reach.”
It was not a one-off request. The prince and the presenter corresponded for 20 years, between 1986 and 2006, with Savile apparently acting as unofficial adviser to the heir to the throne. The depth and intimacy of their correspondence is revealed in a new Netflix documentary, *Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story*, which uses archive clips to explore how Savile did what he did, grooming a nation into believing he was a talented broadcaster and tireless philanthropist when, off-camera, he was a serial sexual abuser and paedophile. After Savile’s death in 2011, aged 84, the police investigated about 500 allegations of abuse, taking place from 1955 to 2009, the vast majority from victims aged under 18.
The makers of the documentary — the director Rowan Deacon (*The Case of Sally Challen*) and 72 Films — gained access to dozens of letters in which the prince regularly sought guidance from Savile on his public speeches and on family matters. Among them is an extraordinary five-page dossier titled *Guidelines for Members of the Royal Family and Their Staffs*, handwritten by Savile in 1989 for the prince, then aged 40, in which the broadcaster lays out his vision for how the royal family should respond to significant incidents.
The film-makers believe that the document was drawn up in the aftermath of the Duke of York’s ill-advised comments about the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. Visiting the Scottish town in the days after the atrocity, Prince Andrew said, “I suppose statistically something like this has got to happen at some stage . . . Of course it only affects the community in a very small way.”
“It reignited a discussion about how the royal family should respond to disasters,” Deacon says. “Jimmy Savile wrote this dossier, quite an in-depth document of advice, on how the Queen should behave and how members of the royal family should not be in competition with each other.”
In the document Savile suggests the hiring of “a special person with considerable experience in such matters”. It continues: “There must be an ‘incident room’ with several independent phone lines, teletext etc . . . The Queen should be informed in advance of any proposed action by family members.”
In a handwritten memo to Savile on January 27, 1989, the prince writes: “I attach a copy of my memo on disasters which incorporates your points and which I showed to my father. He showed it to HM [Her Majesty].” According to Deacon, the response from the Queen’s private secretary was “quite lukewarm, and Charles [was] frustrated by that. We know that from the exchange.”
Clarence House has not responded to our request for comment.
It was not the only time the prince asked Savile for help regarding his younger brother. “I wonder if you would ever be prepared to meet my sister-in-law, the Duchess of York?” he wrote on December 22, 1989. “Can’t help feeling that it would be extremely useful to her if you could. I feel she could do with some of your straightforward common sense!”
The prince and the royal family, like the rest of the nation, had no idea of Savile’s crimes. “He was duped, like we all were,” Deacon says. “The letters show the trust that Prince Charles put into Jimmy Savile. He was trying to appeal to the British people, trying to modernise. And he saw Jimmy Savile as his conduit to that. In hindsight, that was catastrophic.”
First of all thank you for copying the whole article plus letter excerpts here.
The thing that came to my mind is the pedo hysteria in the USA. Remember Pizzagate? It is just one example of millions of people believing that the elite are involved in child trafficking and sexual exploitation of said children. I always thought it was bonkers and never could understand their obsession with these adenochrome -drinking, child molesting rich and famous and wrote it down as nonsense brought to us by the same people who founded charismatic religious movements with speaking in tongues and performing miracles and whatnot so not the most, er, reliable or factual of people.
However, considering Jimmy Savile, considering Prince Andrew and his chums Epstein and Maxwell who flew politicians, actors and all sorts of rich folks on their “Lolita Express” makes me question my original dismissal of these conspiracies.
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The Prince of Wales sought advice from Jimmy Savile shortly after the Duke of York made ill-advised comments about the Lockerbie bombing, according to newly unearthed letters.
Savile, the late BBC presenter now known for his prolific sex offending, wrote a media relations “handbook” for Charles, 73, who went on to “incorporate” some of the advice in a memo that was shown to the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
According to letters spanning a period of 20 years, Savile, the former *Top of the Pops* host, appeared to take on a role as unofficial adviser to the future king. Details of the correspondence are revealed in a new Netflix documentary, *Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story*. The director, Rowan Deacon, gained access to dozens of letters in which the prince regularly sought guidance from the presenter.
*Jimmy Savile gave royals advice on dealing with media*
On January 14, 1987, the Prince of Wales sent Jimmy Savile a letter. “Perhaps I am wrong,” he wrote from Sandringham in his spidery script, “but you are the bloke who knows what’s going on. What I really need is a list of suggestions from you. I so want to get to parts of the country that others don’t get to reach.”
It was not a one-off request. The prince and the presenter corresponded for 20 years, between 1986 and 2006, with Savile apparently acting as unofficial adviser to the heir to the throne. The depth and intimacy of their correspondence is revealed in a new Netflix documentary, *Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story*, which uses archive clips to explore how Savile did what he did, grooming a nation into believing he was a talented broadcaster and tireless philanthropist when, off-camera, he was a serial sexual abuser and paedophile. After Savile’s death in 2011, aged 84, the police investigated about 500 allegations of abuse, taking place from 1955 to 2009, the vast majority from victims aged under 18.
The makers of the documentary — the director Rowan Deacon (*The Case of Sally Challen*) and 72 Films — gained access to dozens of letters in which the prince regularly sought guidance from Savile on his public speeches and on family matters. Among them is an extraordinary five-page dossier titled *Guidelines for Members of the Royal Family and Their Staffs*, handwritten by Savile in 1989 for the prince, then aged 40, in which the broadcaster lays out his vision for how the royal family should respond to significant incidents.
The film-makers believe that the document was drawn up in the aftermath of the Duke of York’s ill-advised comments about the Lockerbie disaster in 1988. Visiting the Scottish town in the days after the atrocity, Prince Andrew said, “I suppose statistically something like this has got to happen at some stage . . . Of course it only affects the community in a very small way.”
“It reignited a discussion about how the royal family should respond to disasters,” Deacon says. “Jimmy Savile wrote this dossier, quite an in-depth document of advice, on how the Queen should behave and how members of the royal family should not be in competition with each other.”
In the document Savile suggests the hiring of “a special person with considerable experience in such matters”. It continues: “There must be an ‘incident room’ with several independent phone lines, teletext etc . . . The Queen should be informed in advance of any proposed action by family members.”
In a handwritten memo to Savile on January 27, 1989, the prince writes: “I attach a copy of my memo on disasters which incorporates your points and which I showed to my father. He showed it to HM [Her Majesty].” According to Deacon, the response from the Queen’s private secretary was “quite lukewarm, and Charles [was] frustrated by that. We know that from the exchange.”
Clarence House has not responded to our request for comment.
It was not the only time the prince asked Savile for help regarding his younger brother. “I wonder if you would ever be prepared to meet my sister-in-law, the Duchess of York?” he wrote on December 22, 1989. “Can’t help feeling that it would be extremely useful to her if you could. I feel she could do with some of your straightforward common sense!”
The prince and the royal family, like the rest of the nation, had no idea of Savile’s crimes. “He was duped, like we all were,” Deacon says. “The letters show the trust that Prince Charles put into Jimmy Savile. He was trying to appeal to the British people, trying to modernise. And he saw Jimmy Savile as his conduit to that. In hindsight, that was catastrophic.”
First of all thank you for copying the whole article plus letter excerpts here.
The thing that came to my mind is the pedo hysteria in the USA. Remember Pizzagate? It is just one example of millions of people believing that the elite are involved in child trafficking and sexual exploitation of said children. I always thought it was bonkers and never could understand their obsession with these adenochrome -drinking, child molesting rich and famous and wrote it down as nonsense brought to us by the same people who founded charismatic religious movements with speaking in tongues and performing miracles and whatnot so not the most, er, reliable or factual of people.
However, considering Jimmy Savile, considering Prince Andrew and his chums Epstein and Maxwell who flew politicians, actors and all sorts of rich folks on their “Lolita Express” makes me question my original dismissal of these conspiracies.
Thank you again for posting.