Duke of Marlborough denies strangling estranged wife

The Duke of Marlborough has denied strangling his estranged wife on three occasions in an 18-month period.

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.

High Wycombe Magistrates' 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 "tightly around the neck".

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.

The court was told the 2022 incident occurred following an argument in the garden of their home.

The second accusation describes Edla Marlborough running into a laundry room before being attacked.

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.

The twice-married aristocrat, formerly known as the Marquess of Blandford, married his second wife, Welsh ceramicist Edla Griffiths, in 2002.

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.

The pair are thought to have separated in 2024.

He inherited his dukedom in 2014, following the death of his father, the 11th Duke of Marlborough.

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.

His ancestral family home is Blenheim Palace in Woodstock – Sir Winston's birthplace - which is owned and managed by Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation.

The foundation said, in a previous statement, it was "unable to comment on the charges, which relate to the duke's personal conduct and private life, and which are subject to live, criminal proceedings".

It added: "The foundation is not owned or managed by the Duke of Marlborough, but by independent entities run by boards of trustees."