Princess Diana told her father ‘if you loved me you wouldn’t leave me here’ as she was sent to boarding school, her brother Charles Spencer has revealed.
Earl Spencer, 59, shared the heartbreaking comment this morning during his appearance with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One on Sunday.
He said ‘it was so incredibly impressive’ to see Diana tell their father how she felt about going to boarding school and that ‘I was so proud of her for saying that’.
Charles also reiterated his own position on boarding schools, telling Mrs Kuenssberg: ‘Personally, I don’t think that every child under the age of 13 should be sent away. They don’t understand what’s going on.’
Earl Spencer last week published his memoirs, A Very Private School, in which he revealed horrific details of the physical and sexual abuse he suffered during his childhood while attending Maidwell Hall boarding school in Northamptonshire in the 1970s.
Earl Charles Spencer revealed during his appearance Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One this morning that Princess Diana told their father Edward John Spencer: “If you loved me, you wouldn’t leave me here” when she was sent to boarding school.
Diana told her father she didn’t want to go to boarding school, but instead he took this photo of his daughter, sitting on a trunk in her pleated skirt and red vest, school uniform
Charles, pictured with Diana in 1967, said “it was so incredibly impressive” to see his older sister tell their father how she felt about going to boarding school and that “I was so proud of her for saying that ‘
Diana was sent to Riddlesworth Hall in Norfolk at the age of nine after her mother, Frances Roche, left her father John for wallpaper millionaire Peter Shand-Kydd.
The boarding school first opened in 1946 as an independent girls’ school, but was forced to close in April last year due to ‘unprecedented financial difficulties’.
Diana was sent to prep school in 1970, three years after her parents separated, and stayed at Riddlesworth Hall, between Thetford and Diss in Norfolk, between the ages of nine and 12.
Young Diana initially told her father that she did not want to go to boarding school, but instead he took a photo of his daughter, sitting on a trunk in her pleated skirt and red vest, school uniform.
Although unhappy at first, she later settled in at the school and became a popular student while dealing with the aftermath of her family’s breakup.
She left Riddlesworth Hall in 1973 and attended West Heath Girl’s School in Sevenoaks the following year.
Diana was sent to Riddlesworth Hall (pictured) in Norfolk at the age of nine after her mother, Frances Roche, left her father John for wallpaper millionaire Peter Shand-Kydd
Although unhappy at first, she later settled in at the school and became a popular student while dealing with the aftermath of her family’s breakup. Diana is pictured visiting the school in 1989
Excerpts from Charles Spencer’s new memoir revealed that he was sexually abused at boarding school
In addition to recounting how Diana pleaded not to go to boarding school, Earl Spencer told Mrs. Kuenssberg that their childhood nanny would “smash our heads together” if the two had been naughty.
Charles said the violence would not be just “a tap on the wrist” but a “cracking sound” that “really hurt.”
The count also revealed that his older sisters had been plied with laxatives from another nanny as punishment.
“Another babysitter punished them by shoveling laxatives into them, and my parents couldn’t figure out why they were constantly sick,” he said.
Charles made it clear that he didn’t blame his parents: “They did the best they could, like 98 percent of parents do,” and complained that they “didn’t know.”
While he remained steadfast in his defense of his parents, he emphasized that this showed the “disconnect” between parents and children in these privileged families.
‘It was just normal. You leave it to the babysitter to handle this,” he said.
In addition to telling how Diana begged not to go to boarding school, Earl Spencer also told Mrs. Kuenssberg that their childhood nanny would “smash our heads together” if the two had been naughty.
Earl Spencer with Princess Diana. He added that the violence would not be just “a slap on the wrist” but a “crunching pinch” that “really hurt.”
Earl Spencer with Diana and their mother. Charles also revealed that his older sisters were plied with laxatives from another nanny as punishment
The interview comes just days after Charles released his memoirs and warned that young children should not be sent to boarding school.
In the book, Charles told how he was abused at the age of 11 by a female assistant matron at the prep school in Northamptonshire.
He describes his abuser as a “voracious pedophile” and claims she preyed on him and other young boys, groomed them in their dormitories at night and then abused them.
The preparatory school has now reported to the municipality following Earl Spencer’s claims.
Charles said the school had “sewn demons into the souls of abuse victims,” making them feel “they were responsible” for what happened.
The Count explained how he was able to cope with the trauma on his own when he tried a new form of therapy called the Hoffman Process, which aims to resolve negative behavior patterns.
The book also describes how John Porch, the “terrifying and sadistic” headteacher of the exclusive preparatory school, inflicted brutal beatings, apparently receiving sexual pleasure from the violence.
Diana Spencer and her brother Charles Spencer at their home in Berkshire in 1968
Earl Spencer (left), Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales wait as the hearse carrying the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales prepares to leave Westminster Abbey in 1997
Charles warned in an interview on Lorraine Kelly’s show last week against sending young children to boarding school.
‘I think it’s really bad to be sent away at a very vulnerable age, like seven or eight. “I don’t support that at all,” he said.
‘I have seven children and two of them chose to go to boarding school in their mid-teens. And that’s fine: their decision. And if they decided it wasn’t for them, they knew there was an exit plan.”
Earl Spencer also believes that because of his young age, he would be less likely to report the abuse he suffered to an adult once it started.
He said: ‘I think children at that age, whatever their background, have no context for their lives, they just think this is what their parents expect and this is the framework they have been given.
“I discovered that among all my friends, none of them told their parents.”