Police have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at Earl Spencer’s Maidwell Hall boarding school.
Princess Diana’s younger brother stated in his memoirs, published earlier this year, that he had suffered sexual abuse and physical beatings from an employee during his time at boarding school.
Earl Spencer attended the Northamptonshire school during the 1970s, from the age of eight to 13.
On Monday, local police said they had launched a criminal investigation into “allegations of non-recent sexual abuse” at Maidwell Hall school.
A spokesperson for the force said they were in the “early stages” of investigating the allegations and would pursue all available lines of inquiry to “help bring the perpetrators to justice”.
In his memoir, A Very Private School, Earl Spencer said he was abused by a matron’s assistant when he was 11, leaving him with such trauma that he was hurt by the idea that she might leave the school.
Earl Spencer, who said he was left with lifelong “demons” after the abuse, wrote: “There seemed to be an unofficial hierarchy among her prey…she would choose one boy each term to share her bed and would use him for intercourse. sexual.
“Her control over the hypnotized boys was total, as we were starved of female heat and desperate for attention and affection.”
Earl Spencer claimed that as a result of the abuse he suffered, he lost his virginity to a 12-year-old Italian prostitute.
Of the act, he said he now thinks he was “simply completing the process set in motion by the matron’s assistant’s perverted attention.”
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He described reliving his time at the school as “an absolutely hellish experience”, writing: “I often witnessed a deep, still flickering pain in the eyes of my Maidwell contemporaries.
“Many of us left Maidwell with demons sewn into the seams of our souls.”
A spokesperson for Maidwell Hall previously told Sky News the school was “appalled” by the allegations of abuse, adding “we are sorry”.
The spokesperson also said: “It is difficult to read about practices that, unfortunately, were sometimes considered normal and acceptable at the time.
“Almost every facet of school life has evolved significantly since the 1970s.
“At the heart of these changes is the rigorous safeguarding of children – protecting them from abuse and maltreatment – and the promotion of their well-being.”
They approached the local authority after the allegations emerged and encouraged anyone with similar experiences to contact them or the police.
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