Charles Spencer has opened up about being abused while he was a young student at a British boarding school, but he never spoke to his sister Princess Diana about his traumatic experience at the school. In his new memoir, A Very Private School, which was released on March 12, 2024, Spencer, now Earl Spencer, revealed that children attending the school were "sexually, physically and emotionally abused on a daily basis," reports NBC. Spencer, 59, was sent to Maidwell Hall, an all-boys boarding school, when he was 8 years old.
Charles Spencer is Princess Diana's youngest brother. Though he and Diana were close, Spencer never mentioned being abused in school to her, he explained to People. He didn't tell his other sisters either.
Spencer went to the school until he was 13 years old. In his book, he writes about students being beaten to the point that they had visible signs of abuse. He also says that he was sexually abused by a young woman who worked at the school.
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He didn't speak of the sexual abuse for many years. When he was 42, he spoke about it for the first time. When talking to a therapist, he said, "I was sexually abused by a woman when I was a child,” he told NBC.
He eventually told his older sisters about his experience at the boarding school — just 18 months ago, reports People. "They were stunned and appalled," he told the outlet.
Spencer told People that he believes Diana had a much better boarding school experience. "I don’t remember us ever really discussing what we were going through. She went to a very gentle place, I believe," he told People.
Spencer's experience at the boarding school also led to thoughts of harming himself.
The female staff member that assaulted him would kiss him — "French kiss for ages," reported NBC. She also "intimately touched" him. At the time, he was 11 years old, in a "hard, male environment" where he missed "feminine warmth."
The woman was a "master of manipulation,” he wrote. At the time, "it was so confusing" and "thrilling," but in retrospect, "of course, it was terrible," he told NBC.
In his opinion, the school's headmaster, Mr. Porch, was “a pedophile and a sadist.”
And coming from a privileged, aristocratic background did not protect him from this type of abuse, even though he has said that some people seem to think that it would. At the time he was at school, he was known as Viscount Althorp and was son of the eighth Earl Spencer.
“I told a friend of mine about this recently, and he said, ‘I just can’t believe you weren’t protected,’” he said, reported TODAY.com. “As if coming from this incredibly privileged background somehow would be protection against pedophiles and sadists. But there is no protection against those sorts of people.”
Speaking to People, he said he shared his story in hopes that it "genuinely will help people" and raise awareness of "vulnerability as children in any social class."
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If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
