A Very Private School: A Memoir

Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer and younger brother of the late Princess Diana, recounts his experience of being sent to boarding school at age eight in this memoir. He provides a firsthand account of cruelty at the school he attended and examines the antiquated boarding system. Drawing on memories from schoolboy contemporaries, his own letters, and diaries from that period, Spencer reflects on the hopelessness and abandonment he experienced at such a young age. He describes the intense pain of homesickness and its inescapable nature. The memoir explores the long-lasting impact of these experiences and offers a candid examination of his past and childhood. This edition includes a new afterword in which Spencer reflects on the response to his memoir's publication, including support and solidarity from fellow abuse survivors.