Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer speaks about sexual abuse suffered at Maidwell Hall school

Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer has spoken out about the sexual abuse he was subjected to by a female member of staff at his boarding school, in a memoir published exclusively in The Mail on Sunday.

Charles Spencer, who is now aged 59, has described not only the sexual assaults he suffered at the hands of an assistant matron, but also the beatings he received from male members of staff during his time at Maidwell Hall in the 1970s.

The Earl has said he only began to understand the lasting impact of the abuse when he had counselling following the breakdown of his second marriage when he was in his early 40s. Now, fully understanding the effect of the abuse on his whole life, he describes the matron - whom he does not name - a 'voracious paedophile'.

The peer, who attended Maidwell between the ages of eight and 13, said he hopes his account will shine a light on 'how things too often were' in English private schools in the 1970s and bring 'closure' to fellow pupils who were abused.

"I've frequently witnessed deep pain, still flickering in the eyes of my Maidwell contemporaries,' he wrote in his memoir, which was first published on the Mail Online. 'Many of us left Maidwell with demons sewn into the seams of our souls."

'Boys starved of attention became prey for paedophile matron'

Maidwell Hall is ten miles from Althorp House, the family seat of the Spencers, where Diana is buried. It is a feeder school for elite private schools including Eton and Winchester and only admitted boys until 2010. Earl Spencer joined the school, which has been open at its current location since 1933, at the age of 8 in 1972.

At age 11, he said he was moved to one of a pair of dormitories in the school's attics, known as 'the uppers', which were overseen by the assistant matron who went on to abuse him, who was aged 19 or 20 at the time. He said the unnamed woman groomed boys by bringing them illicit snacks at night - and she would then sexually abuse them.

The abuse began as kissing, but then became intimate touching and sexual intercourse. Earl Spencer said the matron was able to manipulate himself and the other boys, all whom he referred to as her 'prey', because they wanted love and affection. "Her control over mesmerised boys was total, for we were starved of feminine warmth, and desperate for attention and affection."  

He believed he had been sent to boarding school 'because I'd fallen short as a son'. Soon after his ninth birthday in 1973 he started to make himself sick in what he now describes as 'a desperate attempt to get somebody adult to show me warmth and sympathy. It was an emotional cry for help'.

The Earl said that he was so confused about his relationship with the abusive matron that he later self-harmed when she suggested she may leave the school for a job in the Royal Navy. Describing the misplaced joy he and other boys felt when she decided she would stay until the end of the year, he wrote: "We jumped up and down, waving our arms in childish euphoria, unaware that we were, in fact, the victims of a voracious paedophile."

Earl Spencer has established that the assistant matron, who would now be in her late 60s, married at least twice but he believes she is now either dead or lives abroad.

'A childhood corroded by an abuser'

The Earl did not fully comprehend the long-term, life-long impact the abuse had on him until 2007, when he spoke about it for the first time. After the collapse of his second marriage he enrolled on a therapy course and it was during these sessions that he talked about the abuse - over 30 years after it had happened.

He said he has considered legal action against the woman who 'corroded my childhood' – but ultimately decided not to as it would bring back too many traumatic memories for him.

In the memoir, he also revealed that when men learnt of what happened to him would 'at first' make light of the abuse, saying he was 'lucky'. But when he then asked how they would react if it was a 20-year-old man sexually molested an 11-year-old girl', they replied "then they get it".

Earl Spencer also spoke about mistreatment at the hands of John Porch, Maidwell's headmaster from 1963 to 1978, who died in 2022 aged 95. He said Porch made brutal corporal punishments part of the school routine, giving boys beatings with a slipper or cane. "The strikes were delivered swiftly and sharply, with the full force of his sinewy arm, before he pushed you away disgustedly," he said.

On Friday (March 8), Maidwell Hall told MailOnline that they are sorry for the experiences Earl Spencer and the other boys had during their time there.

A spokesperson said: "It is difficult to read about practices which were, sadly, sometimes believed to be normal and acceptable at that time. Almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s. At the heart of the changes is the safeguarding of children and promotion of their welfare.'

The school said it was 'dismayed' to hear allegations of sexual abuse and had referred them to the 'local authority designated officer' who oversees such claims. It also urged anyone with similar stories to contact the officer or the police.