Princess Diana told her father “if you loved me you wouldn’t leave me here” when she was sent to boarding school, her brother Charles Spencer has revealed.
Earl Spencer, 59, shared the heartbreaking remark during his Sunday appearance with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One This Morning.
He said “it was incredibly powerful” 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 Ms Kuenssberg: “Personally, any child under the age of 13, I don’t think they should be expelled. They can’t understand what’s happening.
Earl Spencer last week published his memoir, A Very Private School, revealing horrific details of the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child while being educated at Maidwell Hall boarding school in Northamptonshire in the 1990s. 1970.
Earl Charles Spencer, during his Sunday appearance with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC One this morning, revealed 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 cardigan school uniform.
Charles, pictured with Diana in 1967, said “it was incredibly powerful” to see his older sister tell her father how she felt about going to boarding school and that “I was so proud to her for saying that.”
Diana was sent to Riddlesworth Hall, Norfolk, at the age of nine after her mother, Frances Roche, left her father John for wallpaper millionaire Peter Shand-Kydd.
The boarding school opened as an independent girls’ school in 1946, before being forced to close due to “unprecedented financial challenges” in April last year.
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 she didn’t 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 cardigan school uniform.
Although initially unhappy, she later settled into school and became a popular student, while dealing with the consequences of her family’s breakup.
She left Riddlesworth Hall in 1973 and went to West Heath Girl’s School in Sevenoaks the following year.
Diana was sent to Riddlesworth Hall (pictured) in Norfolk, aged nine, after her mother, Frances Roche, left her father John for wallpaper millionaire Peter Shand-Kydd.
Although initially unhappy, she later settled into school and became a popular student, while dealing with the consequences of her family’s breakup. Diana is pictured during a visit to the school in 1989
Excerpts from Charles Spencer’s new memoir reveal he was sexually abused at residential school
In addition to recounting how Diana pleaded not to go to boarding school, Earl Spencer told Ms. Kuenssberg that their childhood nanny would “beat our heads together” whenever the two had been naughty.
Charles said the violence would not just be “a slap on the wrist”, but a “crunching crack” that would “really hurt”.
The earl also revealed that his older sisters were given laxatives as punishment by another nanny.
“Another nanny punished them by making them swallow laxatives, and my parents didn’t understand why they were constantly sick,” he said.
Charles made it clear that he didn’t blame his parents: “They did their best, as 98 percent of parents do,” and lamented that they “didn’t know.”
Although he remained steadfast in his defense of his parents, he stressed that it showed the “disconnect” between parents and children in these privileged families.
“It was just normal. Let the nanny take care of it, he said.
In addition to recounting how Diana pleaded not to go to boarding school, Earl Spencer told Ms. Kuenssberg that their childhood nanny would “beat our heads in” whenever the two had been naughty.
Earl Spencer with Princess Diana. He added that the violence would not just be “a slap on the wrist”, but a “crunch” that would “really hurt”.
Earl Spencer with Diana and their mother. Charles also revealed that his older sisters were given laxatives as punishment from another nanny.
The interview comes just days after Charles published his memoir and warned that young children should not be sent to boarding school.
In the book, Charles recounts how he was assaulted by an assistant matron at the age of 11 at Northamptonshire prep school.
Describing his attacker as a “ravenous pedophile,” he claims she preyed on him and other young boys, grooming them and then abusing them in their dorm beds at night.
The prep school has now reported to the council following Earl Spencer’s claims.
Charles said the school “sewed demons into the souls” of abuse victims, making them feel “like they were responsible” for what happened.
Count explained that he was only able to deal with the trauma by trying a new form of therapy called the Hoffman Process, which aims to resolve negative behavioral patterns.
The book also details how John Porch, the “terrifying and sadistic” headmaster of the exclusive prep school, inflicted brutal beatings, apparently deriving 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, in an interview on Lorraine Kelly’s show last week, warned against sending young children to boarding school.
“I think being sent away at a very delicate age like seven or eight is really — 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 was less likely to report the abuse he suffered to an adult once it started.
He said: “I think children of that age, whatever their background, have no context for their lives, they just think that’s what their parents expect and that’s the framework for them. has been given.
“I noticed that out of all my friends, none of them had told their parents.”