British author-journalist Charles Spencer is due to release a book about his childhood years at the Maidwell Hall boarding school and the painful lessons he endured.

Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced on Wednesday that it will publish A Very Private School: A Memoir, in March 2024.

Gallery is calling the book a “clear-eyed, first-hand account of a culture of cruelty”.

Spencer, the younger brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, will also write about his “happy life at home” during that time, according to the publisher.

The author, who has previously expressed his unhappiness with boarding school, said in a statement that he had finally reached a point where he could make sense of his experiences and place them within a historical context.

He said: “I’m writing this book before my memories of half a century ago tip over into that chasm of forgetfulness that shadows old age.”Beyond my own experiences, I wanted to look at what, really, was going on in this strangely secretive place.”

Spencer, 59, has written such bestsellers as The White Ship, Blenheim and To Catch a King.

He currently co-hosts the podcast Rabbit Hole Detectives.