The true account of Jimmy Savile’s mother’s relationship with him is told in The Duchess.
Agnes Savile, Jimmy Savile’s mother, who he affectionately referred to as The Duchess, passed away in 1972.
But how did she actually feel about her youngest son, and was she concerned about his actions (as shown in the first few episodes of the BBC One drama The Reckoning)?
Jimmy was the seventh child and last to be born, growing up in a Roman Catholic home with four sisters and two brothers. Jimmy’s father was a bookmaker’s clerk named Vincent Joseph Marie Savile, but he didn’t say much about him.
Jimmy Savile allegedly stated that he did not have a very happy childhood because there were no kids his own age for him to play with. Since Jimmy was born just before his mother turned 40 and was neither planned nor intended, he also referred to himself as his mother’s “not again child.”
When interviewed for his book, Savile told journalist Dan Davies, “I grew up around adults, which meant I had nothing to say. “I finished up with big ears, listening to everything, and big eyes, watching everything, and a brain that wondered why grown-ups did what they did.”
After experiencing a lack of affection as a child, Savile allegedly spent the most of his adult life attempting to win his mother’s acceptance and approval. He became much more invested in his friendship with her following the death of his father.
Savile regularly visited his mother in her apartment on Scarborough’s Esplanade, which he customized to his preferences and where he remained to live after she passed away.
On Sundays, Jimmy Savile and his mother went to church together. They also enjoyed taking vacations together, which included a trip to Rome to see the Vatican.
In 1971, Agnes Savile went to Buckingham Palace with her son to get his OBE.
Agnes passed away shortly after it at the age of 85, and Jimmy is believed to have been distraught. He reportedly spent days with her body after she passed away, according to numerous reports.
Years later, Savile looked back and said, “To me, they were good times.” I used to have to share her with other people. We had a great experience. But once she passed away, I had her exclusively.
He provided some additional insight into the dynamics of the relationship with the Duchess in an interview with the Sunday People (via the Mirror).
“My mother never got around to being proud,” he said in an interview. She would respond, “I don’t know what he’s up to, but he’s up to something,” to questions about Jimmy.
“She never trusted me as she thought I was going to get nicked and end up in the pokey.”
It has been said that she was skeptical of his accomplishment, though it is impossible to know if she was leery of his illicit behavior.
Jimmy Savile took Louis Theroux to the Scarborough apartment he had previously inhabited with his mother, the Duchess, during the 2000 documentary When Louis met… Jimmy Savile. They “never” argued, he claimed to the documentary producer.
“Pale golden hair she had,” Savile said of his mom, “perfectly natural, and was the envy of many ladies right the way until the time she pegged it.”
Louis was shown around the Duchess’s former bedroom, where her closet still contained things belonging to his mother. “My cleaner takes them out and gets them freshened up about once a year,” Savile informed him. “These make better souvenirs than photographs,” he stated.
Louis noted that his mother was still the most significant figure in his life 30 years after her passing.
Several victims came forward with charges of sexual abuse against Jimmy Savile after his own death in 2011, which made the news. He is thought to have violated approximately 400 persons over the course of more than 50 years, according to current estimates.
In an effort to understand how Savile had gotten away with his crimes for so long, Louis Theroux produced a follow-up documentary in 2016 to speak to some of his victims (one of whom admitted to Louis that Savile had “hoodwinked” him in his earlier 2000 film). The Reckoning, a new BBC drama, aims to accomplish the same goal.