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The Duke of Marlborough has been accused of strangling his estranged wife on three occasions in an 18-month period, court documents show.
Charles James Spencer-Churchill, 70, formerly known as Jamie Blandford, has been charged with three counts of non-fatal intentional strangulation against Edla Marlborough.
He had been due to appear before Oxford magistrates on Thursday morning but the court heard he was “unable to attend” and the case was adjourned ahead of a plea hearing at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on 5 January.
The attacks are alleged to have taken place in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, between November 2022 and May 2024.
The twice-married aristocrat, formerly known as the Marquess of Blandford, was arrested on 13 May 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.
The duke married his second wife, Welsh ceramicist Edla Griffiths, in 2002 but they are thought to have 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.
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 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”.
