Princess Diana's family breaks cover with big revelations amid royal family crisis

Princess Diana's brother has stepped forward to make significant revelations during a period of turmoil within the royal family.

In an extract from his memoir, which has been serialised in the DailyMail on Sunday, Earl Charles Spencer, 59, details the sexual assaults and beatings he suffered at Maidwell Hall, leaving him with lifelong "demons".

He says he was abused by an staff member at the school when he was 11, leaving him with such trauma that he self-harmed over the notion she may leave the school.

Earl Spencer writes: "There seemed to be an unofficial hierarchy among her prey... she chose one boy each term to share her bed and would use him for intercourse. Her control over mesmerised boys was total, for we were starved of feminine warmth and desperate for attention and affection."

As a result of the experience, Earl Spencer says he lost his virginity to an Italian prostitute at the age of 12.

He writes says he was victim of the school staffer's "perverted attention." He added: "There was no joy in the act, no sense of arrival, no coming of age."

Earl Spencer also says he was beaten with the spikes of a cricket boot by the school's Latin master.

He described reliving his experiences at the school as "an absolutely hellish experience", writing: "I've frequently witnessed deep pain, still flickering in the eyes of my Maidwell contemporaries.

Earl Spencer's book, A Very Private School, will be published on March 14.

Meanwhile her eldest daughter Lady Kitty Spencer, 33 has announced the arrival of her first child with husband Michael Lewis. 

Lady Kitty is a first cousin to Princes William and Harry which now means that her newborn tot will be second cousins to Prince George, Louis, Archie and Princesses Charlotte and Lilibet.

Meanwhile, on the royal family's side, Kate Middleton, who is married to Diana’s eldest son, Prince William, underwent abdominal surgery at the London Clinic on January 17 and has yet to return to her royal duties.

In addition, King Charles, Diana's former husband, has been diagnosed with a type of cancer and undergoes treatment.