He Lady Di’s brotherCount Charles Spencerrevealed that it was sexually abused at the age of 11 by a member of staff at his boarding school, Maidwell Hallas detailed in an extract from his published memoirs exclusively by The Mail on Sunday.
In an extract from his memoirs published exclusively in The Mail on Sunday, Earl Spencer, now 59, describes the sexual and physical abuse that he suffered at Maidwell Hall and the damage they caused throughout his life.
In the book, titled in English ‘A Very Private School’ (A very private school) reveals how a assistantwhom he describes as a “voracious pedophile“abused him and other childrenin addition to listing and detailing the brutal mistreatment at the hands of the school principal, John Porch.
Horrible experience in Maidwell
This “absolutely hellish experience” that lasted 5 yearshad lasting effects on her personal life, including her first two marriages and mental health issues similar to those Diana faced with bulimia.
The story of Lady Di’s iconic sheep sweater that broke a million-dollar record at auction
He explains that he fully understood the damage Maidwell caused him when he was in his early 40s, while he was in therapya space he attended after the collapse of his second marriage in 2007.
In his memoirs, Spencer describes feeling seized with such “desperation” when returning to Maidwell after holidays that he regularly considered shooting himself in the foot with one of his father’s shotguns.
The classmate, who attended the Northamptonshire school between the ages of 8 and 13, said he hopes his account will shed light on “how things were too often” in the English private schools in the 1970s and bring “closure” to colleagues who suffered abuse.
“I have often witnessed a deep pain, which still flickers in the eyes of my Maidwell contemporaries,” he writes. “Many of us leave Maidwell with demons sewn into the seams of our souls.”
The school said it was “shocked” to hear allegations of sexual abuse
Maidwell Hall It is ten miles from Althorp House, the Spencer family residence, where Diana is buried. As a subsidiary of elite private schools, including Eton and Winchester, only admitted boys until 2010 and currently charges fees of up to £31,700 a year.
Lady Di competes with Marilyn Monroe: her galactic dress breaks the record by being sold for more than a million euros
Earl Spencer, who entered school in 1972recalls how boys were told to address female staff as “please” instead of “miss”, a rule he intended to instil good mannersbut which the aristocrat considered “deeply strange.”
At age 11, he was moved to one of two dormitories in the school’s attics, known as ‘The Uppers’, which were supervised by aassistant matron that I had 19 or 20 years old. The young woman, whom she does not name, manipulated them, bringing them illicit snacks at night before sexually abusing them.
Earl Spencer painstakingly describes every detail of the young woman’s abuse at school, revealing how the woman chose one boy each term to sexually abuse and how he cynically encouraged boys to compete for his affection.
They claim that Lady Di’s ghost visits her confidant and repeats a forceful phrase: “I’m sorry”
“Her control over the hypnotized children was total, because we were starving for feminine warmth and desperate for attention and affection,” she writes.
Furthermore, he says that self-harm when the young woman was about to leave school. “I was so worried about losing her that I started cutting the inside of her arm with a razor,” she recalls.
He says the men who found out what happened to him “at first” downplayed the abuse, saying he was “lucky.” But When you ask, how would you react if it were a 20-year-old man who sexually abused an 11-year-old girl? “then they understand”.
Earl Spencer assumes that the assistant, who would now be in her 60s, was married at least twice, but suspects that she is now living abroad or dead.
Lady Di wearing the color of 2024: Peach Fuzz
Memories are also a damning indictment against John Porchknown as ‘Alec’ to his friends or ‘Jack’ to his pupils, headmaster of Maidwell from 1963 to 1978, who He died in 2022 at the age of 95.
“The blows were quick and abrupt, with all the strength of his sinewy arm, before he pushed you in disgust,” describes Lady Di’s brother.
Earl Spencer believed he had been sent to boarding school “because he had failed as a son” and shortly after turning nine years old, in 1973, vomiting began to occur in what he now describes as “a desperate attempt to get someone grown to show me warmth and sympathy.”
He has considered taking legal action against the woman, only to decide that it would resurrect too many traumatic memories.
The school said it was “shocked” to hear allegations of sexual abuse
Maidwell Hall said it was “humbling” to learn about the experiences of Earl Spencer and other former students, adding: “We’re sorry this was your experience.”
“It is difficult to read about practices that, unfortunately, were sometimes considered normal and acceptable at the time. “Almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the protection of children and the promotion of their well-being,” they noted.
The school said it was “dismayed” to hear of allegations of sexual abuse and had referred them to the “local authority designated official” who oversees such allegations. Besides, He urged anyone with similar stories to contact the officer or police.
RM/ED