Duke of Marlborough dies at 88
Jamie
Blandford, who was at one time estranged from his father over drug addiction,
will inherit the title
Press
Association
The
Guardian, Thursday 16 October 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/16/duke-of-marlborough-dies-at-88
The Duke of
Marlborough has died at the age of 88. A spokesman for Blenheim Palace
The Duke’s
full name was John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill.
David
Cameron paid tribute, saying: “I am greatly saddened to hear of the death of
the Duke of Marlborough. To me, he was not only the vice-president of my
association but also a good man and friend.
“His grace
will be deeply missed by all those he worked alongside at Blenheim and by the
town of Woodstock
“My
thoughts and prayers are with all his family and friends at this sad time.”
The Duke
was a cousin of Winston Churchill, who was his godfather, and he was also
distantly related to the late Princess Diana. His death means his once-troubled
son Jamie Blandford, currently known as the Marquess of Blandford, will inherit
his father’s title and become the 12th Duke of Marlborough.
A Blenheim Palace
The palace
in Oxfordshire was built in the early 18th century in the opulent baroque
style. The birthplace of Churchill, the 4,800 hectare (12,000 acres ) estate
has 187 rooms, dwarfing Buckingham Palace and Windsor
Castle
The palace
was built as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, as a reward
for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians during the war of
the Spanish succession.
The duke
had been married four times and has four surviving children – two from his
first marriage to Susan Hornby of the WH Smith dynasty, and two from his third
marriage to Rosita Spencer-Churchill.
In 2008 he
married his fourth wife, Lily Sahni, the daughter of a successful Indian
businessman, who was more than 30 years the Duke’s junior.
The
marquess spent much of the early 1990s in newspaper headlines because of his
drug addiction.
He spent
several spells in prison for a string of driving offences, causing some to dub
him “the wayward peer”, and was publicly estranged from his father.
In a bid to safeguard the Blenheim Palace
After the high court action, the Duke of
Marlborough said of his son: “I think there have been black sheep in every
family and there’s nothing new about that. We have had some good ‘uns and some
bad ‘uns. He’s had every chance, hasn’t he?”
The marquess has a long history of
skirmishes with the law.
In 1983 he was fined for assaulting a
police officer, and the following year he was sentenced to three months
imprisonment for breach of probation.
He was put on probation again in 1985 and
fined 1,000 for breaking into a chemist’s shop and in 1986 he was convicted of
drug offences. At that time he admitted spending £20,000 on cocaine in four
months.
From the late 1980s into the early 1990s he
chalked up a record of motoring offences and was repeatedly banned from
driving.
In May 1994 he was remanded in custody for
three weeks in HMP Brixton after failing to keep appointments with probation
officers, and the following month he was put on probation for 18 months and
ordered to attend a clinic for drug addiction.
In December 1999 he was rushed to hospital
with a missing eyelid, a badly damaged nose, three missing teeth and a broken
shoulder after a car ran into his Toyota Land Cruiser in Kiddington,
Oxfordshire.
But he reformed his behaviour and in 2012
he featured in a Channel 4 documentary which charted his new relationship with
his father.
In a preview for the show, the Daily Mail
quoted the late duke saying: “I am fully confident that James will be able to
keep this place [Blenheim
Palace
“You can’t predict the future. You never
know, God forbid, whether you would get behind the problems again but things
are looking much more settled at the moment.
“Trying to keep Blenheim going is a very
important part of the family’s history and life at the present time, and so
what we’re trying to do is ensure that Blenheim is kept for future generations.”
 |
The Duke of Marlborough, who has died, with
his fourth wife Lily Mahtani. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
|
Former drug addict and ex-convict Jamie Blandford becomes 12th Duke of
Marlborough after father dies
Jamie
Blandford, once described by his despairing father as the 'black sheep' of the
Spencer-Churchill family, is the new custodian of Blenheim Palace
By Gordon Rayner,
16 Oct 2014 / http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11168207/Former-drug-addict-and-ex-convict-Jamie-Blandford-becomes-12th-Duke-of-Marlborough-after-father-dies.html
His father
once regarded Jamie Blandford as such a lost cause that he went to court in an
attempt permanently to disinherit him.
But today
the convicted burglar, drug addict and serial prisoner became the 12th Duke of Marlborough and custodian of Blenheim Palace
The
Spencer-Churchill family announced “with great sadness” that the 11th Duke,
John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill, “passed away peacefully” this
morning. His funeral will be held next Friday.
David
Cameron, a friend of the Duke as well as his local MP, said: “I am greatly
saddened to hear of the death of the Duke of Marlborough. To me, he was not
only the vice-president of my [Witney Conservative] Association but also a good
man and friend.
“His grace
will be deeply missed by all those he worked alongside at Blenheim and by the
town of Woodstock
“My
thoughts and prayers are with all his family and friends at this sad time.”
The
responsibility of maintaining one of Britain’s grandest country houses for
future generations now passes to 58-year-old Jamie Blandford, as he is commonly
known, following a remarkable turnaround in his relationship with his late
father, who once described him as the “black sheep” of his family.
Blandford,
or His Grace as he will now be formally addressed, has more than 20 convictions
going back 30 years for drug offences, burglary, criminal damage, numerous
driving offences and even punching a police officer.
His
well-documented battle with heroin and cocaine addiction – he once admitted
spending £20,000 on cocaine in four months – strained his relationship with his
father to breaking point, and in 1994 the two men faced each other in court to
fight out the future of the dukedom and the £100 million Oxfordshire estate.
The 11th
Duke became the first aristocrat for more than a century to attempt to use the
courts to deny his direct heir his eventual title, and was ultimately thwarted
because the 1706 act of Parliament that gifted Blenheim to the 1st Duke of
Marlborough forbade any intervention in the inheritance.
But
Blandford’s father managed to persuade the High Court that it had a duty to
protect the estate for future generations, and his son was forced to agree to
an agreement that ceded all executive power to a board of trustees that look
after the estate.
Two years
ago it emerged during a Channel 4 documentary about the family that Blandford
had stayed clean of drugs for several years, earning something of a reprieve
from his father, who agreed that he should inherit overall charge of the
estate, though with trustees retaining a power of veto.
The 11th
Duke said at the time: “I am fully confident that James will be able to keep
this place going. But over the top of him – and over the top of me – are
trustees. You can’t predict the future.
“Trying to
keep Blenheim going is a very important part of the family’s history and life
at the present time, and so what we’re trying to do is ensure that Blenheim is
kept for future generations.”
The 12th
Duke, who lives in a farmhouse on the estate, has the right to take up
residence in the Palace with his family, but a spokesman for Blenheim Palace
said it was “too early to say” whether he will choose to live in the house,
which is open to the public, or remain in his current home.
The 11th
Duke, a cousin of Sir Winston Churchill and a distant relative by marriage of
Diana, Princess of Wales, was married four times, and leaves five children. His
most recent marriage, in 2008, was to Lily Mahtani, an Iranian-born
mother-of-three who was 30 years his junior.
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