A Christmas Card sent from Jimmy Savile to King Charles has been put up for sale on eBay, more than a decade after it was first sold at auction.
The greetings card, which features a portrait of Charles with Princes William and Harry on the inside, was first sent in 2003, when Harry was 19 and William was 21.
The card, which has gone on sale for £1,500 reads: ‘Jimmy, wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year, Charles,’.
The front of the card bears the gold gilt seal of the Prince of Wales, as King Charles was then.
On the back of the card is a sticker from Dreweatts Bloomsbury from 2012, marking the year that the card was first sold as a collection of Savile’s ‘treasures’ – following his death in 2011.
A year after his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse were made against Savile, leading police to posthumously conclude he may have been one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders.
However, before these allegations were known, he had a relationship with Charles, having shared a mutual interest in charity endeavours.
A Christmas Card sent from Jimmy Savile to King Charles is now available to buy, more than a decade after it was first sold at auction
The greetings card, which features a portrait of Charles with Princes William and Harry on the inside, is now on sale on eBay for £1500
The portrait was taken by Mario Testino – previously known taking some of the most career defining of Princess Diana shots – in 2003 for the annual festive portrait.
Attached to the listing of the card, the seller has described: ‘a few unobtrusive surface creases otherwise the card is in good condition,’.
‘The front of the card bears a gilt depiction of the seal of the Prince of Wales.
‘The verso of the card bears an auction sticker: ‘Dreweatt’s Bloomsbury SIR JIMMY SAVILE KCSG LID 30th July 2012′.’
‘A year after Jimmy’s death, in June 2012, Dreweatt’s held an auction of hundreds of lots of Savile’s ‘treasures’, including this card, with the proceeds going to charity.
‘There had been several allegations during Jimmy’s lifetime, which Charles and his staff must certainly have been aware of, but these claims were dismissed and accusers ignored or disbelieved.’
Savile started out as a club manager and DJ, eventually presenting Top of The Pops. His violent past was disregarded
Over the course of their friendship – including Savile receiving the royal approval of a knighthood – Charles and Savile had decades worth of written exchanges, some of which has already gone for sale
Jimmy Savile had deep personal relations with the British monarchy, with the Mail having previously revealed the pair were so close that Savile was on a longlist to be a potential godfather to Prince Harry when he was born in 1984.
The pair’s friendship continued on for many years, with Charles having sent him Cuban cigars and gold cufflinks with the note, ‘Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country, Jimmy. This is to go some way to thanking you for that.’
Over the course of their friendship – including Savile receiving the royal approval of a knighthood – Charles and Savile had decades worth of written exchanges, some of which has already gone for sale.
Earlier this year, a handwritten letter from the king to Savile went up for auction. The letter thanked the, now infamous child rapist, for a £40,000 hospital donation.
The letters went up for sale on an online website in the RR Auction in the US, alongside an invitation from Savile to Princess Diana, as well as a telegram with the typed names of the former Prince and the Princess of Wales with their young sons.
Items from the collection were expected to take in between $400 and $1000.
After his death in 2011, Savile was unmasked as one of the nation’s most prolific sexual abusers of both women and children – having exploited his position in the public sphere to feign trust and gain access to potential victims.
The king is understood not to have had knowledge of the accusations at the time of their friendship.
The back of the card shows a sticker from Dreweatts Bloomsbury, from 2012 when the card previously went to auction
The king is understood not to have had knowledge of the accusations at the time of their friendship
It comes after a self-deprecating remark made by King Charles regarding his Christmas portraits to photographer Alan Maxwell was unearthed.
Written when he was the Prince of Wales in 1993, the note revealed how he felt about the ‘unpromising material’ for that year’s cards.
One of the sets featured him posing in a kilt next to Prince William and Harry, while the others showed Diana posing with her sons.
The memo was written to the late Alan Maxwell, the royals’ official photography expert who would develop their camera films and offer his advice.
The handwritten note is among a treasure trove of photographs, letters, and thank you notes the royals wrote to Mr Maxwell over his years of service.
In the Charles’s 1993 message, he wrote: ‘Dear Mr Maxwell, I just wanted to thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into producing possible Christmas cards for me this year.
‘I couldn’t be more pleased with what you have achieved from some pretty unpromising material!
‘I thought you did wonders in interpreting my ideas of having a card made up of three small pictures, and only narrowly preferred the group version in the end. I only hope it is appreciated by several thousand recipients.