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?

It wasn't just the royals that were fooled by him. Heaps of people were.

The then PC had the benefit of an army of advisers whose sole job was to look after his interests and reputation.

It's inconceivable that those advisers weren't aware of the many rumours swirling round Savile especially when the honours committe refused to award his knighthood on the grounds of extremely unsavoury interview comments he'd made.

Far more likely that C decided he knew better.

No, but they had eyes and minds, as well as hordes of advisors who could delve into people's backgrounds very deeply.

Even if he had just been a creepy eccentric but ultimately harmless, do you think it would have been a wise thing for them to be seen associating with him? Normally they work on a closed system of socialising and fraternising, whereby only a select few wealthy/prominent/important people of their own upper class 'sort' would even be considered as 'suitable' in the first place.

You would think that, considering that the likes of the vast majority of us perfectly outwardly respectable commoners would never pass muster to be in their acceptable close personal coterie, as we lack their 'breeding'; they would instantly weed out and reject other people from relatively humble, non-posh origins who specifically permanently gave off serious weirdo vibes far and wide, wouldn't you?

Yes the royal family had advisors.
But if you're a royal and your advisor starts to provide unwelcome advice, wouldn't you just sack them and get someone else who will be a little more ... sycophantic?

It is horrifying but not surprising.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44979209

Seems to be a pattern with Charles. See also Mountbatten

Yes it does seem that the King had unusually poor judgement. Bit like his brother. They have been very unlucky with the people they have chosen to be friends with.

I’m more stunned that anyone still believes that the royals have any morals or integrity

Unlucky? Or enjoyed the benefits of their services, like that creature Andrew, with his good friend Epstein?

I was reading some articles the other day about a series of events called the Sarajevo Safaris. Apparently that involved rich people from the UK as well as other countries and the Hostel films were apparently based on real events, which undoubtedly still go on.

Evil exists.

Agreed. They're people whose families managed to defeat all others and wrest power centuries ago, and they've shamelessly insisted on keeping it ever since. Back in the old days, that power would have been won with physical violence, but nowadays, they use other, more subtle ways to maintain it.

Nowadays, they live in obscene opulence whilst they know that many of the people in the country are living in abject poverty - but they just don't care... not enough to actually do anything meaningful about it, even though they could give up billions of pounds to help enormously and not even notice them gone.

Why we would assume that they would have an average sense of good morals when compared with ordinary people, let alone a superior one, is completely senseless.

I have not read the full thread but I strongly disagree with you re not judging the royals .

I judge them .

Look at what Andrew has gotten away with! Elizabeth showed her support Andrew and her contempt for the public when she made sure she was photographed with Andrew , despite knowing what he did . Charles has done the least he could get away with and only did that once members of the public were shouting in Charles’ face !

Why haven’t the Windsors stopped protecting Andrew ? He has been protected from police enquiries .The ‘removal of titles’ is bullshit .

There is a theory that Saville was a procuring for Mountbatten . Mountbatten was described by the FBI as a ‘prolific pedophile’ .
Charles and Saville , Charles and Peter Ball, Mountbatten , Andrew and Epstein .
Disgusting family .

Your argument does not hold water .

1. anyone getting near the Windsors would be vetted. The average person does not have this advantage .
2. Saville was not an anomaly in the Windsor circle . With Peter Ball , Mountbatten , van der post etc ( and these are just the names we know ) Saville fitted right in . Epstein and Andrew are just the more recent horrors .

I really used to look forward to Jim’ll Fix It on a Saturday night as a kid. I really enjoyed the show. I have to be honest - I can’t deny it

100% this I am afraid. I am astonished that there are so many people trying to defend the Royals' position.

'They wouldn't/couldn't have known about JS (and the many other offenders who they were friends with)' - really? They are surrounded by advisers & security; this is a family whose school children's friends are vetted before they can visit them.

I cannot get past the fact that when the allegations by Virginia Giuffre against Andrew emerged, Buckingham Palace described them as 'false and without any foundation'. That was the spokesperson of our Head of State, publicly branding a sex trafficking victim as a liar.

Exactly this .

People are worryingly trusting of people who do things for charity - "but he raises so much for charity! His high profile is good for the charity. He gives up his free time!" Giving people a free pass. "You're just casting aspersions because it makes you feel guilty for not doing more yourself!"

To be clear, most people who work for charities, the charities themselves are fine. But it's a handy disguise for a few.

Think such behaviour was acceptable in the 70's ?

What?

I think what it comes down to is struggling that people can be good and bad

or appear to be in JS case plus he always seemed so jovial

it’s much easier to accept someone is bad when all their actions are and at the time grooming was just not understood

@Futurehappiness

Yes exactly . The old ‘royal announcement’ designed to flatten any objection.
They attempted to smear a brave woman , using their unelected unearned privilege to do so .
Have they apologised for smearing Virginia ?I’m not seriously expecting an apology - have they apologised for charging NHS etc? Of course not .

And they have the gall to use women’s charities as PR

No @HRTQueen .

Saville was one of many pedophiles connected to the Windsors . It wasn’t the case that it was an isolated misjudgment.

Not suggesting it was but the royals are as open to manipulation as the rest of us and anyone of us can be manipulated

he manipulated professionals and the general public

I know that too many complaints were not followed up for various reasons and more than one occasion a stop was put to further investigations because he wasn’t alone in his actions but people like him do split professional teams and this was a time when little was understood about grooming and people like JS operate, it still happens and this has to be kept in mind when working with people who are highly manipulative

What do you think Charles knew he raped children but as long as it wasn’t children he was close to it didn’t matter. He may have heard of the rumours (I’m sure he did) but having been charmed by him and fooled by his persona came to the conclusion (as many did) that he was just a bit weird and an eccentric and there was also the run that he was gay which certainly helped JS hide himself even more

"How did nobody see it?" Have you seen the JS documentary?

He, himself, repeatedly told everyone, in public, on TV, exactly what he was up to.

Because he was hiding in plain sight and highly manipulative plus had people covering up for him and you didn’t have the joint up investigations as you do now with things being computerised even now it doesn’t always work look as Wayne Couzens and that’s very recent

how many of us believed Michael Jackson had these close relationships with young boys and had innocent sleepovers because he was trying to relive his childhood that he missed out on I know I did as many other did and still do

We can all be taken in by people such as JS it’s a horrible acknowledgement

@HRTQueen

Again , your explanation is focussed on Saville only .
There are too many pedophiles and sex offenders both within the Windsor family and protected by them, for the ‘misjudgment’ explanation to hold up
Saville , Ball, Mountbatten, van der post , Andrew , Epstein .

and there isn’t with other families ….

look how many taken in by Epstein

and how many families come into contact with so many people not always their choice royals and political families come into contact with hundreds of people all the time often it’s not quite on such a personal level as it may seem

bad judgement yes, blinded by manipulation absolutely