Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Her Grace

The Duchess of Marlborough

VA
Full-length portrait of Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
BornLady Frances Anne Emily Vane
(1822-04-15)15 April 1822
St James's Square, London, England
Died16 April 1899(1899-04-16) (aged 77)
Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England
Spouse(s)
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(m. 1843; died 1883)​
Issue
FatherCharles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
MotherLady Frances Vane-Tempest

Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, VA (15 April 1822 – 16 April 1899) was an English noblewoman, the wife of British peer and statesman John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough. One of her sons, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the father of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. She had a total of 11 children, and her principal home was the monumental Blenheim Palace, which she rejuvenated with her "lavish and exciting entertainments",[1] and transformed into a "social and political focus for the life of the nation".[2] She was invested as a Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert for her efforts at famine relief in Ireland.

  1. ^ Ralph G. Martin, Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill, Volume One, The Romantic Years (1854–1895), p. 61.
  2. ^ Margaret Elizabeth Forster, Churchill's Grandmama: Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, The History Press Ltd., 2010, publisher's note. Retrieved 16 April 2010.