Charles Spencer revealed he was sexually abused as a child at the age of 42.
He initially disclosed this to a therapist after hitting rock bottom.
In his new memoir, ‘A Very Private School,’ the 9th Earl Spencer details the alleged trauma he endured.
Spencer was enrolled at Maidwell Hall, an elite English boarding school, when he was eight.
The historian met with other former pupils and revisited painful memories of the past.
Spencer discovered family records dating back 300 years of fellow Spencer attending boarding school.
According to Spencer, sending children away to places where they would meet the right people was essential. These privileged kids would meet and form lifelong bonds but at a price. You were separated from your family and may have been subjected to harsh treatment.
The upper classes in England have a trade-off where they do not have to worry about raising children and can instead focus on their luxurious lifestyles. However, the child will gain significant social advantages and a network of friends supporting those advantages for life.
Spencer claimed that he witnessed and experienced incidents of alleged abuse behind closed doors.
He described it as a brutal experience. According to him, the headmaster was a sadistic pedophile who staffed only a tiny number of teachers in the place. These teachers were either perverted or would never tell tales against him. Spencer felt that there was no one to go to for help.
According to Spencer, one student was whipped so severely that he had difficulty removing his underpants at night due to the dried blood and clothing sticking to his skin.
The boy had to soak in a warm bath until the fabric came loose, and it took two weeks for the wounds to heal.
Spencer claimed that after tea time, numerous boys would vanish into a private wing where they were subjected to nightly beatings.
It was unlikely that pajama pants would offer any protection. Spencer claimed that the beatings he endured were shockingly intense.
He was allowed to write one letter weekly to his parents, but they were supervised, and he couldn’t disclose what was happening.
Later, Spencer discovered that the parents of a student who had recently died from a terminal illness still had his letters, which were stained with tears.
According to Spencer, they were left at the mercy of dangerous individuals.
Spencer suffered from loneliness and often reminisced about his older sister, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in 1997 at the age of 36.
He shared, ‘Growing up, she was the person I was closest to.
We did everything together, including attending a gentle day school before boarding school.’ She was a kind and caring older sister to a little boy whose parents were divorced. They had a traditional English upbringing.
In the book, Spencer claimed that he was groomed and sexually abused at the age of 11 by an assistant matron at the school.
According to Spencer, the matron was about 19 or 20
years old and preyed on other boys who were under 13 years old.
Spencer alleges that the abuse he suffered led him to lose his virginity at the age of 12 when he secretly paid a sex worker while on a trip to Italy with his mother. He kept the abuse a secret for many years, but after two failed marriages, he realized he needed help.
According to Spencer, he has made significant progress in the last three to four months, particularly since writing his book.
He is currently undergoing effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, which includes Tai Chi and breathing exercises.
According to a report by Today, Spencer hired a private investigator years ago to locate the woman in question. Although she was alive at the time, he felt confronting her would be too overwhelming.
The outlet noted that, under British law, there is no statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault.
Spencer currently resides approximately 10 miles away from Maidwell Hall.
He wishes for the school to address its past honestly.
Spencer would tell his younger self that it was not his fault. As a child, he believed that he had failed as a son to be sent away to such a place and not be part of the family. However, he would reassure his younger self that he is fine and has come out on the other side.