The Duke of Marlborough is accused of strangling his estranged wife, court documents show.
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, who is related to Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, is accused of three offences of intentional strangulation between November 2022 and May 2024.
The 70-year-old was summoned to appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday following his arrest in May last year, but the court heard he was “unable to attend”.
District Judge Kamlesh Rana said the case will be listed for a plea hearing in front of the chief magistrate at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on 5 January.
Court documents say the three charges of non-fatal intentional strangulation against his estranged wife are alleged to have taken place in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Mr Spencer-Churchill, known to his family as Jamie, is the 12th Duke of Marlborough and a member of one of Britain’s most aristocratic families.
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Related to wartime prime minister Sir Winston – a first cousin, three times removed – and also distantly to Diana through the Spencer line, Mr Spencer-Churchill inherited his dukedom in 2014, following the death of his father, the 11th Duke of Marlborough. Prior to this, the twice-married Mr Spencer-Churchill was the Marquess of Blandford, and also known as Jamie Blandford.
The duke married his second wife, Welsh ceramicist Edla Griffiths, in 2002, but they separated in 2024.
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.
They had a daughter, the equestrian Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill, in 2007, and a son, Lord Caspar Spencer-Churchill, in 2008.
Edla, 57, became the Duchess of Marlborough when Mr Spencer-Churchill inherited his dukedom following the death of his father, the 11th duke, in 2014.
The duke was previously married to Becky Few Brown, the mother of his eldest son and heir George, a polo player and the current Marquess of Blandford.
His ancestral family home is the 300-year-old Blenheim Palace – Sir Winston’s birthplace – in Woodstock. But the duke does not own the 18th-century baroque palace, and has no role in the running of the residence and vast estate.
Blenheim is owned and managed by the Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation.
A spokesperson for the foundation said: “Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation is aware legal proceedings have been brought against the Duke of Marlborough.
“The foundation is 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.
“The foundation is not owned or managed by the Duke of Marlborough, but by independent entities run by boards of trustees.”
