The Duke of Marlborough has appeared in court charged with strangling his estranged wife. Charles James Spencer-Churchill, 70, a distant relative of Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, faces three counts of intentional strangulation against Edla Marlborough, 57.
The allegations span from November 2022 to April 2024. In the first incident, on 13 November 2022, the duke is accused of striking his wife several times after a garden row, then putting his hands around her neck. On 23 April 2023, he allegedly grabbed her in a laundry room, hit her with a closed fist, and strangled her. The final charge involves pushing her onto a bed and assaulting her with his hands tightly around her neck on 29 January 2024.
At High Wycombe Magistrates' Court, Spencer-Churchill indicated not guilty pleas. He gave his address as Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the ancestral home where Winston Churchill was born. The duke was granted conditional bail and will appear at Oxford Crown Court on 5 February for formal pleas.
Spencer-Churchill became the 12th Duke of Marlborough after his father's death in 2014. He married Edla in 2002, but they separated in 2024. Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is owned by a foundation, not the duke.
