Princess Diana’s Brother Reveals He Was Sexually Abused at School as a Child

Princess Diana‘s brother Charles Spencer is speaking out about being sexually abused as a child.

In a preview for the Monday, March 11, episode of the Today show, Spencer, 59, told Cynthia McFadden about his experience at one of England’s most prestigious boarding schools.

“We were locked away. We were like prisoners,” he noted. “We were prey to very bad people’s worst instincts.”

Spencer said he opened up about the assault for the first time in his 40s while speaking to a therapist. “He said, ‘Whisper to me one thing you’ve never told anyone,’” Spencer recalled. “And I said, ‘I was sexually abused by a woman as a child.’”

The school that Spencer attended, Maidwell Hall, said in a statement to Today that they have notified the local authorities to investigate possible crimes against kids. Maidwell Hall also encouraged anyone with a past experience to come forward.

During his upcoming appearance on the morning show, Spencer is expected to discuss the release of his new memoir, A Very Private School. He previously offered a glimpse at the book via Instagram in February, writing, “My intensely personal childhood memoir A Very Private School, is published by @wmcollinsbooks in the UK on 14 March. Four-and-a-half years in the writing, it’s quite something for me to think that it will finally be in readers’ hands in just a month’s time.”

In addition to details about his memoir, Spencer has used social media to share family photos from his childhood. He uploaded a post on Friday, March 8, which included a snap of his late sister as well. (Diana died in August 1997 following a fatal car accident in Paris.)

“I’m not sure I’m being entirely helpful, in this family shot from 1966, but I’m sharing it because I think it’s the only shot I have of my parents, my sisters and me together; mainly because it was usually my father behind the lens,” he wrote in the caption. “A happy moment at my childhood home – Park House, Sandringham – from long ago.”

Diana and Spencer are two of five children shared by the late John Spencer, 8th Earl of Spencer, and Frances Shand Kydd. The Spencer family also includes sisters Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes and brother John Spencer, who died hours after his birth in 1960.

The elder John was awarded sole custody of his four children in 1969 when he divorced Kydd. John died in 1992 at the age of 68 following a heart attack. Kydd died in 2004 at the age of 68 after battling cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).