Savile advised King on £40k donation to hospital

Notes to be sold at auction reveal how disgraced star ingratiated himself with then Prince of Wales

‘It says it’s from the collection of Jimmy Savile. You wouldn’t pass on these items to anyone’

HANDWRITTEN letters from the King to Jimmy Savile, thanking him for a gift and asking advice over a £40,000 hospital donation, are to be sold at auction.

The letters are offered for sale on an online auction website in the United States, along with an invitation to Savile from Diana, Princess of Wales, and a telegram with the typed names of the couple and their young sons.

RR Auction has nine items for sale in an autograph auction, said to originally be from the disgraced broadcaster’s extensive collection of letters.

The auction also includes a photograph of Diana and Charles together and letters from Margaret Thatcher, all sent to Savile before he was revealed as a prolific sex offender.

A handwritten letter from the then Prince Charles thanks Savile for a bottle of whisky and a boost to his office’s morale, while another has questions about a proposed hospital donation.

One telegram, containing a birthday message, includes the typed names of William and Harry, who would have been four and two years old at the time.

The relationship between the Prince of Wales and Savile is well-known, with their correspondence stretching back decades. The children’s television presenter ingratiated himself with the establishment through his fundraising, culminating in a knighthood in 1990.

After his death in 2011, aged 84, he was unmasked as one of Britain’s most prolific and predatory sex offenders, exploiting his place in public life to gain trust and access to his victims.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the sale of the letters. The King is understood to have had no knowledge of accusations against Savile at the time the letters were written.

The auction description includes the disclaimer: “In 2012, following the revelations about Savile’s alleged abuse, Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles, issued a statement saying that the Prince of Wales had ‘no knowledge’ of Savile’s wrongdoing and had not been in contact with him since 1999.”

It does not give the provenance of the letters, which are likely to have been sold multiple times at auction.

They include a birthday message to Savile, congratulations on his knighthood and an invitation from Princess Diana to Kensington Palace.

An original honeymoon photograph of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, is also up for sale.

Estimates range from $400 (£160) to more than $1,000 for the collection of letters between Baroness Thatcher and Savile. A member of the public who raised concerns about the auction said: “It just really freaked me out that someone was selling this in the States.

“A lot of Americans wouldn’t have a clue who Jimmy Savile is.

“Most people wouldn’t want any association with him but there might be some really sick people waiting in the wings to buy this stuff.

“It’s been made to look like a royal memorabilia auction, but it says in the notes it’s from the private collection of Jimmy Savile. You wouldn’t pass on these items to anyone.”

Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction, said: “Every piece of history holds a story, even those intertwined with controversy like the Jimmy Savile lots up for auction.”