{"id":675523,"date":"2026-01-05T14:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675523\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:02:15","slug":"duke-of-marlborough-denies-strangling-estranged-wife-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675523\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke of Marlborough denies strangling estranged wife"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Helena Wilkinson,News correspondentand<\/p>\n<p>Curtis Lancaster,South of England<\/p>\n<p>The Duke of Marlborough arrived at court on Monday morning<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The Duke of Marlborough has denied strangling his estranged wife on three occasions in an 18-month period.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Charles James Spencer-Churchill, 70, is accused of striking Edla Marlborough several times before placing his hands around her neck and squeezing them together before letting go on 13 November 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">High Wycombe Magistrates&#8217; Court heard that on 23 April 2023 the duke allegedly grabbed her hair, before hitting her with a closed fist and then grabbing her neck. On 29 January 2024 he is accused of grabbing her &#8220;tightly around the neck&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He indicated he would plead not guilty to three counts of intentional strangulation and was released on bail to appear at Oxford Crown Court on 5 February.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766890833_711_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/64fd4c60-dc0e-11f0-bd2b-d531d865f86a.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Getty Images Charles James Spencer-Churchill, The Duke of Marlborough, and Edla Griffiths, The Duchess of Marlborough, attend Cartier Style Et Luxe at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 2, 2017 in Chichester\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>The duke married Edla Griffiths, his second wife, in 2002 but they separated in 2024<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The court was told the 2022 incident occurred following an argument in the garden of their home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The second accusation describes Edla Marlborough running into a laundry room before being attacked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Prosecutors said on the occasion in 2024, the duke, who gave his address as Blenheim Palace, grabbed her around the neck before throwing her on a bed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The twice-married aristocrat, formerly known as the Marquess of Blandford, married his second wife, Welsh ceramicist Edla Griffiths, in 2002.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">They are said to have met while she was living in Chelsea and working on her art, and they wed after dating for seven years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The pair are thought to have separated in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He inherited his dukedom in 2014, following the death of his father, the 11th Duke of Marlborough.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He is a first cousin, three times removed, of Sir Winston Churchill and a distant relative of the late Princess Diana through the Spencer family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">His ancestral family home is Blenheim Palace in Woodstock \u2013 Sir Winston&#8217;s birthplace &#8211; which is owned and managed by Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The foundation said, in a previous statement, it was &#8220;unable to comment on the charges, which relate to the duke&#8217;s personal conduct and private life, and which are subject to live, criminal proceedings&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">It added: &#8220;The foundation is not owned or managed by the Duke of Marlborough, but by independent entities run by boards of trustees.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766890833_711_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20a4fa20-db43-11f0-bd60-5332627fd119.png.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Blenheim Palace An aerial view of golden sunlight on part of Blenheim Palace, showing tall pillars beneath a carved pediment.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Blenheim Palace<\/p>\n<p>Former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Helena Wilkinson,News correspondentand Curtis Lancaster,South of England The Duke of Marlborough arrived at court on Monday morning The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-675523","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115842865372310633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}