Prince Charles begged Jimmy Savile for help with Royal PR, secret letters reveal
6 April 2022, 09:34 | Updated: 6 April 2022, 09:49
Prince Charles repeatedly asked sex fiend Jimmy Savile to help fix the Royal Family's ailing image, newly released letters reveal.
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The future king wrote to the Jim'll Fix It presenter - later proven to be a predatory paedophile - praising his "straightforward common sense" as he asked for advice on public visits and speeches.
Savile was called upon to offer guidance to Sarah, the Duchess of York and her husband Prince Andrew and he even drew up a media relations handbook for Charles, according to the royal's letters.
One letter written by Charles at Sandringham on January 14, 1989, read: "Perhaps I am wrong, 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."
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The Royal family did not know at the time that the disgraced TV star, used philanthropy as a smoke screen, to allow him to sexually abuse hundreds of vulnerable victims aged 5 to 75, including corpses in hospital morgues.
The shocking letters have been revealed to the world in the new Netflix documentary Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, which will be available to stream from today.
Experts have described Charles' decision to turn to the predator for help as "catastrophic".
The Netflix documentary’s director Rowan Deacon told The Times: "He [Charles] was duped, like we all were. 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."
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Savile was called upon a number of times between 1986 and 2006 when the Royal family encountered PR disasters including when the Duke of York said on a visit to Lockerbie, where 270 people died: "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."
In response, Savile created an action plan, which was reportedly viewed by the Queen and Prince Philip, that suggested the palace create an 'incident room' with independent phone lines.
The predator even helped the Prince of Wales write speeches, with another letter, written before his 1990's Guildhall speech reading: "You are so good at understanding what makes people operate and you’re wonderfully sceptical and practical. Can you cast an eye over this draft and let me know how you think we can best appeal to people?"
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On July 4, he wrote from Highgrove House: "Dear Jimmy, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the most useful assistance you have provided for my speech in the Guildhall the other day.
"It was really good of you to take the trouble to put together those splendid notes and provide me with considerable food for thought.
"Whether you think the final result is in any way worthwhile is another matter. With renewed and heartfelt thanks, Charles."
Savile first came into contact with the Prince and Princess of Wales through his work for Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Bucks, during the 1980s, where Princess Diana opened its spinal injuries unit in 1983.
It later emerged that the paedophile attacked 60 NHS patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital alone, where he was given his own private bedroom and 24 hour access to all wards.
