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The Duke of
Marlborough JP DL
Late The Life Guards
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 John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill was born on 13th April 1926, the elder son of the 10th Duke of Marlborough by his first marriage to Mary Cadogan, daughter of Viscount Chelsea. His father’s cousin, Winston Churchill, who was born at Blenheim, was one of his godparents. After Eton, the Marquess of Blandford, as he then was, joined The Life Guards, and in October 1945, his Commanding Officer, Lt Col Robert Gooch reported that he ‘was extremely keen and very capable’ and was ‘perfectly fitted to take over a Troop straight away’. In May 1947 he was granted a regular commission. In September 1952 he tendered his resignation to attend the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, and retired in the rank of captain in June 1953, having recently taken part in the Coronation. During his time in The Life Guards, he served in Windsor, Germany, the Middle East, and Knightsbridge. Amongst his Army papers is a telegram from the Adjutant of the Mounted Regiment to: Lord Blandford at Balmoral, Scotland, asking for confirmation by return that he ‘had paid the Musical Ride’.
On leaving the Army, he involved himself in the management of Blenheim, particularly in the public opening of the palace, living nearby at Lee Place, a house he kept on after becoming Duke of Marlborough in 1972 as a retreat during the busy summer opening season. In the 1950s he served as a councillor on Oxfordshire County Council and became a magistrate. He took his seat in the House of Lords following his father’s death, drawing attention in his maiden speech to the damage caused to sheep flocks by badgers. Thereafter, he made occasional contributions to debates and was for many years a member of The House of Lords’ bridge team. He lost his seat when the government banished all but 92 of the hereditary peers in 1999.
The Duke dedicated his life to preserving his family seat of Blenheim Palace, for the benefit of future generations, and by applying a keen commercial flair. He introduced regular opening hours, tea rooms, boat trips, a gift shop, a maze and butterfly house, and founded the Blenheim international horse trials, now a popular annual event. In 'the ongoing battle of Blenheim’, he encouraged corporate entertainment in the palace, pop concerts in the grounds, and even opened the family’s private apartments to the public. He placed the running of the estate on a firm financial footing, insisting that all parts of the business were self-financed. In this endeavour he was assisted by, among others, the former Academy Sergeant Major, WO1 Ray Huggins, formerly Grenadier Guards. Blenheim Palace was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, and built in the early 18th century as a reward by a grateful nation to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. But with construction underway, it became the subject of political infighting which led to the 1st Duke’s exile, the fall from grace of Sarah, his wife, and much lasting damage to Vanbrugh’s standing as an architect. Building costs spiralled, and the running costs of such a vast building was beyond the means of successive Dukes of Marlborough, who were often compelled to take desperate measures that did little for their reputation. The 8th Duke sold off many of Blenheim’s treasures, while the 9th Duke married the American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, in an unhappy and arranged marriage designed merely to raise money. Matters did not improve significantly during the 10th Duke’s tenure, and as his son the 11th Duke was later to say ‘It would be wrong to say that I was longing to inherit because that would suggest I wanted my father to die, but there were certain things that couldn’t be done while he was alive’. When he did inherit in 1972, the Palace and its surrounding grounds were in a poor state and he was forced to surrender the Blenheim archives to meet death duties.
But the 11th Duke was to succeed where his ancestors had failed, by maintaining and improving his estate without compromising his principles. It was his dearest wish ‘to ensure that my heir finds the place in the best possible state of repair and the estate in good order’ and it was to be a challenging and continuous battle. Repainting the interiors of the palace took seven years, and rewiring took another seven. In 2009 the Duke spent £1 million to rebuild the Blenheim Dam, created by ‘Capability’ Brown, in order to comply with the Environment Agency requirement that the design was capable of holding back water levels that would result in a 1 in 1,000-year flood.
The Duke’s heir, James, Marquess of Blandford, his eldest surviving son by his first marriage, was for many years regarded as unsuitable to assume responsibility for the estate. But in the event, the estate passed to him, following, to quote The Daily Telegraph, ‘a remarkable turnaround in his relationship with his late father, who once described him as the ‘black sheep’ of his family’. This was apparent in 2012 when the Duke told the Daily Mail, ‘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’.
The 11th Duke was sometimes described as appearing remote and formal, but several interviewers, including the author Bill Bryson, commented on his charm and sense of humour. The eligibility of his ancestors prompted one interviewer to ask if women threw themselves at him. He replied, ‘I’ve never really perceived that as being one of the problems of being a duke’. He was a generous man, well-respected by his staff at Blenheim for being an exacting yet kind employer. In 1989 he announced that he would be paying the poll taxes of workers and tenants on his estate, and he marked his own 80th birthday with a garden party for 500 local octogenarians.
The 11th Duke was chairman of Martini Rossi from 1979 to 1996 and president of the Thames and Chilterns Tourist Board from 1974. He also served as president of the Oxfordshire Association for Young People and of the Oxfordshire branch of the Country Landowners’ Association. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire in 1974. He was president of the Sports Aid Foundation (South Eastern Area) and of Oxford United Football Club in 1955. In 1959 he was honorary vice-president of the Football Association. He was a first-class shot and a good horseman.
The Duke’s first wife, whom he married in 1951, was Susan Hornby, daughter of the deputy chairman of W H Smith. They had a daughter and two sons, the eldest of whom died aged two. When, shortly afterwards, his wife left him, the Duke gained custody of their children. Tina Livanos, the former wife of the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, became the Duke’s second wife in 1961, later marrying Stavros Niarchos, who had previously been married to her sister. The Duke married thirdly, in 1972, Rosita Douglas, the daughter of a Swedish count and ambassador to the United States; they had a daughter and two sons, the eldest dying in infancy. In 2008 he married Lily Mahtani.
The Duke is succeeded to the Marlborough titles by his eldest son James, Marquess of Blandford, who was born in 1955.
With thanks to The Daily Telegraph and The Independent.
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