I’ve spent years trying to unravel the damage of boarding school - Charles Spencer is far from alone

In his new book ‘A Very Private School’, Princess Diana’s brother reveals how being trapped in a cruel and abusive school from the age of eight had a devastating effect on his life as an adult. It’s a story psychotherapist Joy Schaverien is all too familiar with and calls it ‘boarding school syndrome’

Charles Spencer as a teenager at Eton, the school he attended after his traumatic experiences as a boarder at Maidwell Hall between the ages of eight and 13 (Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty)

It is well known that British boarding schools are favoured by the aristocracy and deemed to confer social advantage on their alumni. It is also widely acknowledged that some have historically fostered a tradition of brutality and emotional deprivation among their pupils, with long-lasting effects.

With the publication of Charles Spencer’s courageous memoir A Very Private School, there is likely to be renewed debate around the neglect and privations that have haunted generations of children who were abandoned at the age of seven or eight to a childhood of institutional care.

Unlike those who are taken into the care of the local authority, however, children in boarding schools are considered to be privileged.