The Duke indicated he will plead not guilty to strangling Edla Marlborough. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke indicated he will plead not guilty to strangling Edla Marlborough. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke of Marlborough has indicated he will plead not guilty to strangling his estranged wife.
Charles James Spencer-Churchill allegedly attacked Edla Marlborough, 58, on three occasions between November 2022 and April 2024.
On Monday, the High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court was told the Duke, 70, is accused of striking theDuchess several times after an argument in the garden of their home before putting his hands around her neck on November 13, 2022.
The court was told that on April 23, 2023, the Duchess ran into a laundry room before the defendant is alleged to have grabbed her, hit her with a closed fist and strangled her.
The final allegation is that the Duke pushed her on the bed and assaulted her after putting his hands tightly around her neck on January 29, 2024.
The Duke appeared in the dock for the plea hearing wearing a navy suit, white shirt and blue tie and spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and to indicate that he would plead not guilty.
The Duke is accused of striking the Duchess several times after an argument in the garden of their home. Photo / Getty Images
He was scheduled to appear in the Oxford Magistrates’ Court last month, but the case was adjourned at the last minute, with the district judge saying the defendant was “unable to attend”.
Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, said the court’s powers were not sufficient to hear the case and the Duke must next appear before a judge in the Oxford Crown Court on February 5.
He has been granted bail on the condition that he does not contact his estranged wife, prosecution witnesses or Blenheim Estate managers.
The Duke married the Duchess, a Welsh ceramicist, in 2002 and they have a teenage son and daughter.
After their separation last year, the Duchess moved out of Blenheim Palace and is now believed to live elsewhere on the Blenheim Estate.
The Duke married the Duchess in 2002. Photo / Getty Images
The 12th Duke inherited the title in 2014 and is a first cousin, three times removed, of Winston Churchill and a distant relation of Diana, Princess of Wales through the Spencer line.
In 1994, his father, who described his son as the “black sheep” of the family, brought legal action to ensure he would not take control of Blenheim Palace. He persuaded the High Court that it had a duty to protect the estate for future generations.
The current Duke was forced to agree to cede all executive power over the 300-year-old estate to a board of trustees.
Blenheim Palace was the venue for a banquet for Donald Trump, the US president, at the palace, a Unesco World Heritage Site, in 2018, and the King hosted a reception for European leaders there in July last year.
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