Blenheim Palace - Churchills

Churchills

John Churchill was born in Devon. Although his family had aristocratic relations, they were minor gentry rather than high-ranking members of the upper echelons of 17th-century society. In 1678, Churchill married Sarah Jennings, and in April that year, he was sent by Charles II to The Hague to negotiate a convention on the deployment of the English army in Flanders. The mission ultimately proved abortive. In May, Churchill was appointed the temporary rank of Brigadier-General of Foot, but the possibility of a continental campaign was eliminated with the Treaty of Nijmegen. When Churchill returned to England, the Popish Plot resulted in a temporary three-year banishment for James Stuart, Duke of York. The Duke obliged Churchill to attend him, first to The Hague, then in Brussels. For his services during the crisis Churchill was made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in the peerage of Scotland in 1682, and the following year appointed colonel of the King's Own Royal Regiment of Dragoons.

On the death of Charles II in 1685, his brother, the Duke of York, became King James II. On James's succession Churchill was appointed governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. He had also been affirmed Gentleman of the Bedchamber in April, and admitted to the English peerage as Baron Churchill of Sandridge in the county of Hertfordshire in May. Following the Monmouth Rebellion, Churchill was promoted to Major General and awarded the lucrative colonelcy of the Third Troop of Life Guards. When William, Prince of Orange, invaded England in November 1688, Churchill, accompanied by some 400 officers and men, rode to join him in Axminster. When the King saw he could not even keep Churchill—for so long his loyal and intimate servant—he fled to France. As part of William III's coronation honours Churchill was created Earl of Marlborough, sworn to the Privy Council, and made a Gentleman of the King's Bedchamber.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, he gained a reputation as a capable military commander. He gained a series of military triumphs including victories at the 1704 Blenheim, the 1706 Ramillies, the 1708 Oudenarde and the 1709 Malplaquet battles. Churchill became a national hero and gained numerous honours and awards, including the Dukedom of Marlborough. It was said at the time that together with his wife, Queen Anne's closest friend and confidante, the Duke of Marlborough was virtually ruling the country. It is therefore not surprising that Queen Anne decided that the ultimate honour of the hero would be the gift of a great palace. Marlborough was given the former royal manor of Hensington (situated on the site of Woodstock) to site the new palace and Parliament voted a substantial sum of money towards its creation.

Marlborough's wife, the former Sarah Jennings, was by all accounts a cantankerous woman, though capable of great charm. She had befriended the young Princess Anne and later, when the princess became Queen, the Duchess of Marlborough, as her majesty's Mistress of the Robes, exerted great influence over the Queen on both personal and political levels. The relationship between Queen and Duchess later became strained and fraught, and following their final quarrel in 1711, the money for the construction of Blenheim ceased. The Marlboroughs were forced into exile abroad until they returned the day after the Queen's death on 1 August 1714.