Duke of Marlborough charged with controlling or coercive behaviour towards estranged wife
The Duke of Marlborough, accused of strangling his estranged wife three times, is also accused of controlling or coercive behavior towards her.
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, a relative of Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, has pleaded not guilty to three charges relating to the deliberate strangulation of Edla Marlborough between November 2022 and April 2024.
He appeared at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, where he was charged with two counts of controlling or coercive behavior in an intimate or family relationship towards Ms Marlborough between December 29, 2015 and September 8, 2024, a court indictment said.
He was not formally asked to enter a plea to any of the five charges when he appeared before Judge Ian Pringle KC at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday. He was released on conditional bail and the provisional hearing date was set for January 10, 2028.
High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court heard last month that Spencer-Churchill was accused of striking Ms Marlborough several times before putting his hands around her neck following an argument in the garden of their home on November 13, 2022.
The court was told that on April 23, 2023, Miss Marlborough ran into a laundry room before the defendant, who gave the court his address as Blenheim Palace, allegedly grabbed her, hit her with a closed fist and strangled her.
The latest allegation is that the duke pushed Miss Marlborough onto the bed and assaulted her after wrapping his hands tightly around her neck on January 29, 2024. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges filed last month.
Spencer-Churchill, known as Jamie to his family, is the 12th Duke of Marlborough and a member of one of Britain’s most aristocratic families.
The Duke married his second wife, Welsh ceramist Edla Griffiths, in 2002, but they separated in 2024.
They are said to have met while living in Chelsea and working on her art, and married after dating for seven years.
They had a daughter, Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill, in 2007, and a son, Lord Caspar Spencer-Churchill, in 2008.
Miss Marlborough, 57, became the Duchess of Marlborough when Spencer-Churchill inherited the dukedom following the death of her father, the 11th Duke, in 2014.
Spencer-Churchill’s ancestral family home is the 300-year-old Blenheim Palace, Sir Winston’s birthplace, in the town of Woodstock.
The duke does not own the 18th-century baroque palace and has no role in the administration of the residence and extensive estate. Instead the building is owned and managed by the Blenheim Palace Heritage Trust.
A spokesman for the trust previously said: “The Blenheim Palace Heritage Trust is aware that legal action is being taken against the Duke of Marlborough.
“The Foundation is unable to comment on the allegations, which relate to the duke’s personal behavior and private life and are the subject of live criminal proceedings.
“The Foundation is not owned or managed by the Duke of Marlborough, but is owned by independent organizations governed by a board of trustees.”
