To still be stunned that The Royals were close with Jimmy Savile?

[ThatCleverExpert]

It still blows my mind that the Royal Family had such a long-standing relationship with Jimmy Savile. Prince Charles sought his advice multiple times and he was treated like some kind of national treasure, even given access to hospitals and prisons.

Meanwhile, this was a man who was later exposed as a prolific predator - someone who abused vulnerable people, including children and even corpses in hospital mortuaries.
How did nobody see it? How was he so protected? And how was someone like that allowed so close to people in power?

I know it was a different time but AIBU to think the whole thing is still just horrifying?

This made me laugh 🤣

He was a clever predator who hid in plain sight. He groomed a lot of people.

I'm surprised you're surprised. Phil the Greek was depraved and Andrew hung out with a convicted peado.

First post nails it. They're a depraved bunch.

I’m a child of the 70s and 80s and none of my friends knew or discussed it, we all loved Jim’s Fix It.

I think its very arrogant to assume you can tell a predator or a paedophile just by your own instinct. Yes many people got a vibe off him but that means nothing. In this case they happen to be right. I have heard stories about many men, often posted here where people say they get a creepy vibe and it's completely unfounded. The scary thing about these type of men is that they are undetected. I think many close to JS knew he was a player and a bit pervy but not necessarily in a menacing way because he joked about it. I think very few people knew the true picture, sadly some did and enabled him but most didn't. It's very unfair to put the responsibility of paedophile detection onto the royal family when they were no different to most people.

Those guests are giving the look that men give

'I might be awful, but this guy is a sicko'

Reminds me of the time that Liam Payne dared mention p diddy's name on the Graham Norton couch - everyone braced themselves

Say what you want about being poor - theres rules and the police can semi intervene in situations like this

Fucking terrifying

It worries me more that the government handed him the keys to Broadmoor. Even if he wasn't what he was, that was bloody ridiculous. He had zero experience or qualifications to be there

He was incredibly clever and charismatic and he got away with everything didn't he? For all the rumours the knowledge etc he died unpunished

Same here. And, judging by the initial reactions to his death, quite a few of the general public had no clue even by the time he died.

Because anyone can be open to being manipulated

how he would have behaved around professionals is likely to have been very different and also it was a time when men being what was seen as over friendly toward women and having wondering hands was accepted

I felt uncomfortable watching him but likely due to what my mum said about him being off, but that isn’t knowing he just seemed weird to some plus they heard rumours, eccentric and entertaining to some and to others annoying

none of us knew, like we didn’t about Michael Jackson but it was there in plain sight again hidden behind a persona. And even those who were actually aware of the complaints I don’t think they they were aware of the depths of his perverse nature

The police are in my opinion more at fault for him getting away with it they interviewed him mishandled the investigation didn't link up other complaints in different areas and then acted all shocked about it 🙄

Also - at the time there weren't any "No Win - No Fee" lawyers in the UK - was first allowed for some cases in 1995. So suing was not an option unless you were mega rich.

It really was a very different era.
Unless you lived through these times you can’t fully appreciate it.

The labour governments were happy to indulge him too.

I agree

the number of teachers that were sexual predators that we knew about as young teens we just laughed at them and called them pervs

i knew of two girls being abused by teachers we saw it as a relationship we knew it was wrong but we didn’t understand how wrong it was

very different times and there is still sexual predators in schools thankfully young people are more aware but we know this doesn’t always make children safe

He was a vile, inhuman piece of shit.
I was sexually abused as a child and it takes alot of battling through and can quite easily ruin your life, so I have utmost empathy for those poor children.
I absolutely hate the fact that Saville was praised and so fucking smug whilst being so, knowing what he'd done!

Nothing about this entitled, money grabbing, lazy family shocks me anymore.

Yes I think the Mountbatten, Van der Post and the Peter Ball mentoring friendships of Charles were very worrying. But even as a republican I tend to believe that the royals are “useful idiots” rather than perpetrators.

This Is a slight digression from Saville , but given what we now know about Andrew’s childhood, I suspect that Charles was vulnerable to exploitation too. I’m
not saying he was exploited physically - who knows, possibly his status protected him - but certainly older men found his friendship useful protection to give them respectability and to enable them to get way with their own crimes.

The IICSA investigation found that “Peter Ball had powerful friends, including MPs, judges, and Prince Charles, who wrote letters of support. The Inquiry concluded these actions were "misguided" and had the potential to influence decision-making within the Church and legal system, even if the individuals were unaware of the full extent of the abuse.”

Unfortunately there are paedophiles in all walks of life and some are highly educated, clever and skilled at hiding in plain sight,

As a young child and man Charles was obviously desperate for some proper parenting which, as he said in his Dimbleby biography he didn’t receive, He described his mother as emotionally distant and his father as harsh and hectoring.

Unfortunately, even privileged boys from dysfunctional homes become easy prey.

This article is pretty revealing about Prince Philip’s “aggression” and the late Queen’s passivity. I don’t think they were model parents to put it mildly and Philip of course was penniless and abandoned by his parents too.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/flawed-family-this-week-the-prince-of-wales-disclosed-still-powerful-resentments-against-his-mother-and-father-but-they-also-suffered-in-their-early-years-fiammetta-rocco-delves-into-the-royal-childhoods-that-went-1443791.html#

All of the above leaves children vulnerable.

Let’s just say I can understand William being very, very protective towards his own family. And Harry removing his dc completely.

I lived through that era. “It was a very different time” is a very weasely cop out.

I think you’re just trying to stir things up, for reasons known only to you.

I’m not an admirer of the royals but when so many others were fooled by Savile too I think it’s unreasonable to expect the RF to have been different. I can sort of understand them having him as an adviser on some things because they probably saw him as coming from a completely different background from their usual advisers. I don’t think that means they were "close".

How is it a weasely cop out

he should have been throughly investigated but he was able to put a stop to it

what are other people who do not have power meant to do on rumours that may have heard

I was working in a senior paediatric role in a London hospital in 1991 when I treated a ten year old victim of Savile . I reported him to the BBC and the police . So did many , many other professionals. He was protected & he did not act alone .

He died in 2011.

People definitely saw it and knew about it
Staff at stoke Mandeville were told to be quiet and not speak up.. even though he was abusing patients...
Management said he raised a lot of money for them so be quiet

His friendship with Thatcher meant he was heavily endorsed by government - and at that time, nobody (publicly) disagreed with Thatcher. There was no protection for whistleblowers.

For example yesterday pictures of Trump and Epstein were published - why is there no outcry?