Princess Diana’s brother has revealed their childhood nanny would ‘smash our heads together’ if the two had been naughty, as he opens up more about his childhood.
Charles Spencer has claimed in an interview with Laura Kuenssberg that the violence would not be just “a slap on the wrist” but a “cracking crunch” that would “really hurt.”
The earl also exposed in devastating detail the sexual assaults and horrific abuse he suffered at Maidwell Hall boarding school in the 1970s, published in his memoirs this week.
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.
Charles Spencer has claimed that his and Diana’s nanny would ‘make us bang 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.”
Excerpts from Charles Spencer’s new memoir revealed that he was sexually abused at boarding school
In the interview that aired today, he 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.
The Count made it clear that he did not blame his parents: “They did their best, as 98 percent of parents do,” and complained that they “didn’t know.”
In his memoirs, ‘A Very Private Book’, Charles describes visiting Maidwell Hall between the ages of eight and thirteen in the 1970s.
In the book, published on March 14, Charles reveals how he was abused at the age of 11 by a female assistant matron at the prep school in Northamptonshire.
Charles 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.
During his interview with the psychotherapist, Charles said the school had “sewn demons into the souls of the abuse victims,” making them feel like “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 earl also exposed in devastating detail the sexual assaults and horrific abuse he suffered at Maidwell Hall boarding school in the 1970s, published in his memoirs this week.
Earl Spencer with Diana and their mother. In the interview that aired today, he also revealed that his older sisters were loaded with laxatives from another babysitter as punishment
The Count made it clear that he did not blame his parents: “They did their best, as 98 percent of parents do,” and complained that they “didn’t know.”
He explained: “The penny dropped for me in my early 40s when I started doing something called the Hoffman Process, which is really looking at your childhood and letting go of your childhood.
“And I actually talked about my years at Maidwell as an afterthought, to the therapist in charge of me.”
During the session, the therapist asked Charles to tell him one thing that he had never confided to anyone.
Diana’s brother continued: ‘I told him I had been sexually abused as a child and then we got into the whole subject of Maidwell.’
Later in the session, the therapist told Earl Spencer that the way he described the Maidwell director led him to believe that he had seen him as a “surrogate father.”
Maidwell Hall in Northamptonshire said the allegations were difficult to read and a reference had been made to the Local Authority Designated Officer.
They said: ‘It is sobering to read about the experiences that Charles Spencer and some of his fellow alumni had at the school, and we are sorry that this was their experience.
‘It is difficult to read about practices that were unfortunately sometimes considered normal and acceptable at the time. Within contemporary education, virtually 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.’