Earl Spencer breaks down in tears as he discusses sexual abuse he suffered as a child at boarding school with Princess Diana’s close friend Julia Samuel

Earl Spencer broke down in tears as he discussed the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at boarding school with Diana’s close friend Julia Samuel.

Princess Diana’s younger brother, 59, appeared in conversation with psychotherapist Julia Samuel on her podcast Therapy Works to promote his new book A Very Private School.

Julia Samuel, 64, from London, became close to Diana after meeting her at a dinner party in 1987, and is godmother to Prince George, nine. 

Charles detailed how he attended Maidwell Hall between the ages of eight and 13 in the 1970s. 

In the book, which is published on 14 March, Charles reveals how he was molested by a female assistant matron at the age of 11 at the Northamptonshire prep school.

Describing his abuser as a ‘voracious paedophile’, Charles claims she preyed on him and other young boys, grooming and then abusing them in their dormitory beds at night. The prep school has now reported itself to the council following Earl Spencer’s claims. 

During his interview with the psychotherapist, Charles said the school ‘sewed demons into the linings of the souls’ of the abuse victims, which made them feel like ‘they were responsible’ for what had happened.

The Earl explained how he was only able to process the trauma when he tried a new form of therapy called the Hoffman process – which aims to resolve negative behavioural patterns.

He explained: ‘The penny dropped for me in my early 40s when I went to do a thing called the Hoffman process, which is really looking at your childhood and letting go of your childhood.

‘And I mentioned my years at Maidwell as a sort of sideshow actually, to the therapist who was in charge of me.’

During the session, the therapist asked Charles to tell him one thing he’d never confided in anyone before.

Diana’s brother continued: ‘I told him I’d been sexually abused as a child and then we got into the whole subject of Maidwell.’ 

Later on in the session, the therapist told Earl Spencer that the way he described the Maidwell headmaster made him believe that he had seen him as a ‘surrogate father’. 

As Charles fights back tears, Julia – who is believed to have offered advice to Meghan Markle when she struggled with her mental health during her first pregnancy – told him: ‘Oh Charles. Abuse as at its worst when it’s with people who you’re meant to be able to trust.’ 

Visibly emotional, Charles replies: ‘Yes I agree with that.’ 

Known in high society circles for her discretion, Julia has enjoyed a close relationship with the Royal Family over the years.

In her tell-all television interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan said: ‘One of the people that I reached out to, who’s continued to be a friend and confidante, was one of my husband’s mum’s best friends, one of Diana’s best friends.’ 

Later that year, the grief specialist was invited to an event the palace described as ‘a very personal moment for the family’ – the unveiling of a statue of Diana in Kensington Gardens. 

There, Ms Samuel was seen hugging Harry as it became glaringly apparent that the relationship between the brothers was already starting to fray.

She has said little about the siblings’ relationship except to say that Diana ‘would be really proud of them’. She has described her role as godmother to Prince George as ‘a great honour’, and has spoken about the gifts she brings for his birthday.

Earl Spencer continued: ‘I suppose I had to find a way through it and mine was to become very angry […] I didn’t know what was wrong but I knew something was really really wrong.’

Detailing how he processed the sexual abuse, Charles added: ‘For me, it was so confusing.

‘I couldn’t put a thread through it because I didn’t know what it was […] I think I instinctively knew it was wrong but I didn’t know how wrong. I didn’t know sexual abuse existed.’

Maidwell Hall is ten miles from Althorp House, the family seat of the Spencers, where Diana is buried. A feeder for elite private schools including Eton and Winchester, it only admitted boys until 2010 and currently charges fees of up to £31,700 a year. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Charles describes the headmaster as a ‘terrifying, pulsing menace’ who ensured that no governors or parents ever entered the school premises.  

Charles said: ‘The whole school predicated on the demand he had to have at least six of us 70 odd boys delivered to him for beating on a nightly basis when he would be physically aroused.’

In his book, Charles details how one boy was beaten unconscious by a member of staff while another almost drowned in the school swimming pool. 

Following his harrowing experience at the school when he arrived aged eight, Earl Spencer has now called on children that young to never be sent to boarding school. 

Speaking on Lorraine Kelly’s show yesterday, he said: ‘When I went for my first night at this school I had never stayed away from home without a family member and the horror of it – I had nightmares for six months before going because I couldn’t aged seven and then eight get it into my head that this was going to be the case.

‘But being sent at seven or eight is terrible and I remember there was one boy who went when I was there and he was looking for his parents the first day. 

‘They hadn’t told him they were going to leave him at the school. So he thought he was going on a trip with his parents and then he started looking for them but they had gone. They had gone home and he wasn’t going to see them for five weeks.

‘I think being sent away at a very delicate age such as seven or eight is really – I don’t support that at all. 

‘I have seven children and two of them have chosen to go to boarding school in their mid-teens. And that is fine – their decision. And if they decided it wasn’t for them, they knew there was an exit plan.’

Earl Spencer also believes due to his young age, he was less likely to report the abuse to an adult once it started.

He said: ‘I think kids at that age, no matter their background, have no context for their life, they just think this is what their parents expect and this is the framework they have been given. 

‘I found with all my friends none of them told their parents.’

‘And I must say another thing, coming from the rather uptight background that a lot of us came from back in the 70s we didn’t have conversations with our parents on deep levels. 

‘In fact one of my friends said his abiding memory of being sent to this place aged eight was how strange it was to be in a car with his father because they had never had a conversation before.’ 

Earl Spencer, who joined the school in 1972, recalls how boys were told to refer to all female staff as ‘Please’ instead of ‘Miss’ – a rule that was meant to instil good manners, but which Earl Spencer believed was ‘deeply odd’. 

Earl Spencer’s latest comment on the topic of boarding schools comes after Maidwell Hall announced it had reported itself to the local authority designated officer.

In a lengthy statement the school said: ‘It is sobering to read about the experiences Charles Spencer and some of his fellow alumni had at the school, and we are sorry that was their experience.

‘It is difficult to read about practices which were, sadly, sometimes believed to be normal and acceptable at that time.

‘Within education today, 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.

‘Although we have not directly received any claims from ex-pupils, considering what has been reported, the school has followed the statutory process and made a referral to the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer).

‘We would encourage anyone with similar experiences to come forward and contact either Maidwell Hall, the LADO or the police.’

A spokesman from the NSPCC praised Earl Spencer for bravely speaking about the issue and urged anyone with concerns about a child being sexually abused to call their helpline.

Earl Spencer has also been keen to stress that he was not alone in his treatment at the school.

He told Lorraine: ‘I have to stress this is not all about me. I look at my friends from this school and contemporaries from schools that were equally bad, and can see the effect on them psychologically is so hard.

‘This school was run by very bad people who were indulging their very worst fantasies with little boys.

‘From the age of nine I was desperate for some female love and attention. Under our beds we had metal chamber pots and I used to force myself to vomit in those and then present them to a female member of staff in the morning. 

‘I now realise it was so she would put an arm around me and care but I was just treated as this sort of annoying hypochondriac really. But if I look back now I probably had a form of bulimia, but I wasn’t diagnosed so I can’t be sure.

‘The good thing is they could plonk me anywhere in the world and I would survive because I went through this. But at the same time something small but important in me died during those five years in that school. 

‘Because that is the only way a sensitive person – a normal person – could cope really.’