Charles Spencer reveals family nanny banged his head together with Diana’s with a ‘cracking crunch’

Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has revealed that their nanny would “crack” both their heads together with a “cracking crunch” when they were young children.

The Earl, who has spoken about the violence and sexual abuse he suffered when he was sent to boarding school at the age of eight, has now revealed that he and his sisters also suffered at the hands of their nannies at home.

In an interview with Laura Kuenssberg to be broadcast on Sunday he claims that one of the nannies that looked after him and Diana, named in his book A Very Private School as Nanny Forster, “used to crack our heads together, if we were both found to have done something naughty, obviously without my father’s knowledge, but it really hurt”.

Earls Spencer adds: “It wasn’t a tap on the wrist. It was a cracking crunch, you know, and I remember it still.”

He tells Kuenssberg that another nanny, who looked after his older sisters, but not Diana, used laxatives to punish them.

“A different nanny was punishing them by ladling laxatives down them, and my parents couldn’t work out why they were constantly ill.”

He says that he does not blame his parents, who “did their best, like 98 per cent of parents do”.

But the Earl says the treatment he and his sisters suffered highlighted the “disconnect” between parents and children in some aristocratic families.

Last week the school where Earl Spencer claims he was physically and sexually abused as a pupil in the 1970s referred the allegations to the local authority

The 59-year-old revealed how he was molested by a female assistant matron at Maidwell Hall prep school in Northamptonshire, where he was a pupil between 1972 and 1977.

He claims the “voracious paedophile”, who was a young woman in her late teens or early 20s, sexually abused him and other pupils while they were in their dormitory beds at night.

Earl Spencer also alleges the former headmaster would spank boys on their bare bottoms, while another teacher took boys for naked swimming lessons.

The claims appear in his new memoir, in which he reveals he was so traumatised by his experiences he regularly considered shooting himself with one of his father’s shotguns.

Maidwell Hall in Northamptonshire said the allegations were difficult to read about and a referral had been made to the Local Authority Designated Officer.

The spokesman also urged any other pupils with similar allegations to come forward and report them to either the school, the local authority or the police.

Sobering

He said in a statement: “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.”

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

“By bravely speaking out, Earl Spencer has reassured others in a similar position that they are not alone. No matter how long ago sexual abuse may have taken place, it is never too late to share your experience with people who are ready to listen and help.”