Duke of Marlborough (pronounced ) is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created by Queen Anne in 1702 for John Churchill, 1st Earl of Marlborough (1650–1722), the noted military leader. The Queen and the nation also gave him what became Blenheim Palace, unique as a national monument and family home. In historical texts, unqualified use of the title typically refers to the 1st Duke. The name of the dukedom refers to Marlborough in Wiltshire.

The earldom of Marlborough was held by the family of Ley from its creation in 1626 until its extinction with the death of the 4th earl in 1679. The title was recreated 10 years later for John Churchill (in 1689).

History of the dukedom Churchill had been made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth (1682) in the Peerage of Scotland, and Baron Churchill of Sandridge (1685) and Earl of Marlborough (1689) in the Peerage of England. Shortly after her accession to the throne in 1702, Queen Anne made Churchill the first Duke of Marlborough and granted him the subsidiary title Marquess of Blandford.

In 1678, Churchill married Sarah Jennings (1660–1744), a courtier and influential favourite of the queen. They had seven children, of whom four daughters married into some of the most important families in Great Britain; one daughter and one son died in infancy. He was pre-deceased by his son, John Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, in 1703; so, to prevent the extinction of the titles, a special Act of Parliament was passed. When the 1st Duke of Marlborough died in 1722 his title as Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in the Peerage of Scotland became extinct and the Marlborough titles passed, according to the Act, to his eldest daughter Henrietta (1681–1733), the 2nd Duchess of Marlborough. She was married to Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin and had a son who predeceased her.

When Henrietta died in 1733, the Marlborough titles passed to her nephew Charles Spencer (1706–1758), the third son of her late sister Anne (1683–1716), who had married the 3rd Earl of Sunderland in 1699. After his older brother's death in 1729, Charles Spencer inherited the Spencer family estates and the titles of Earl of Sunderland (1643) and Baron Spencer of Wormleighton (1603), all in the Peerage of England. Upon his maternal aunt Henrietta's death in 1733, Charles Spencer succeeded to the Marlborough family estates and titles and became the 3rd Duke. When he died in 1758, his titles passed to his eldest son George (1739–1817), who was succeeded by his eldest son George, the 5th Duke (1766–1840). In 1815, Francis Spencer (the younger son of the 4th Duke) was created Baron Churchill in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In 1902, his grandson, the 3rd Baron Churchill, was created Viscount Churchill.

In 1817, the 5th Duke obtained permission to assume and bear the surname of Churchill in addition to his surname of Spencer, to perpetuate the name of his illustrious great-great-grandfather. At the same time, he received Royal Licence to quarter the coat of arms of Churchill with his paternal arms of Spencer.Paul Courtenay, The Armorial Bearings of Sir Winston Churchill. (accessed 20 July 2013). The double-barrelled surname of "Spencer-Churchill" has been used by family members since 1817, although some members have preferred to style themselves simply as "Churchill".

The 7th Duke was the paternal grandfather of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, who was born at Blenheim Palace on 30 November 1874.

The 11th Duke, John Spencer-Churchill, died in 2014, having assumed the title in 1972. The 12th and present Duke is Charles James Spencer-Churchill.

Estates and residences Family seat

The family seat is Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

After his leadership in the victory against the French in the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704, the 1st Duke was honoured by Queen Anne granting him the royal manor of Woodstock, and building him a house at her expense to be called Blenheim. Construction started in 1705 and the house was completed in 1722, the year of the 1st Duke's death. Blenheim Palace has since remained in the Churchill and Spencer-Churchill family.

With the exception of the 10th Duke and his first wife, the dukes and duchesses of Marlborough are buried in Blenheim Palace's chapel. Most other members of the Spencer-Churchill family are interred in St. Martin's parish churchyard at Bladon, a short distance from the palace.

In 1994, the 11th Duke took legal action to ensure that his son James would not inherit control of Blenheim.

Estates In the 1883 edition of John Bateman's The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland, John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough's estates were recorded as spanning 23,511 acres across England, including 21,944 acres in Oxfordshire, 1,534 acres in Wiltshire, and 33 acres in Berkshire, which produced a combined annual income of £36,557.

London residences Marlborough House From 1711 to 1817 the London seat of the Dukes of Marlborough was Marlborough House, The Mall. Following the death of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough in 1817, Marlborough House reverted to the ownership of the Crown Estate, and the house was intended to be used as a London home for the-then second-in-line to the throne, Princess Charlotte of Wales. Princess Charlotte died in 1818 before preparations for her occupation of the house was complete, but her widower Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (later King Leopold I of the Belgians) occupied the house for several years.

Nineteenth Century Following the death of the 4th Duke and the expiry of the lease of Marlborough House, George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough did not maintain a permanent London residence; however, his wife, Susan Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, maintained her London residence at No. 16 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia from 1817 to 1820, after which she rented a house in Cavendish Square. She later leased No. 5 Grosvenor Gate (later renumbered as No. 97 Park Lane) from Harriet Scott-Waring from 1829 to 1835, and then No. 35 Green Street (later renumbered as No. 129 Park Lane) from 1835 to 1841.

The 5th Duke died in 1840 and was succeeded by his son, George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough, who in turn was succeeded by his own son, John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, in 1857. The 6th Duke’s widowed third wife, Jane, Duchess of Marlborough, leased No. 13 Upper Grosvenor Street from 1858 to 1863, and later leased No. 28 Grosvenor Street from 1868 until her death there in 1897. Her only son by the 6th Duke, Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill, inherited the leasehold of the house and lived there from 1899. He rebuilt the house in 1906–07 and continued to live there until his own death in 1911; his widow, Augusta, Lady Edward Churchill, continued to live at the house until 1940.

Prior to his father’s death, John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, leased No. 67 Brook Street, Mayfair as his London residence in 1852. Following his accession as 7th Duke of Marlborough in 1857, he continued to maintain the house in Brook Street as his London residence until 1859. He had taken No. 10 St James's Square as his London residence by 14 May 1860, when his daughter Lady Georgiana Spencer-Churchill was born at the house. The house continued to be the 7th Duke's London residence until he announced his intention to dispose of the property in September 1876 following his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. By 1880 the House had been converted into a Gentlemen's Club, the Salisbury; since 1922 it has been known as Chatham House and served as the Headquarters of The Royal Institute of International Affairs.

Following his return from Ireland in 1880, the 7th Duke leased No. 29 Berkeley Square in 1882, where he died on 5 July 1883.Quinault, Roland. "Churchill, John Winston Spencer, seventh duke of Marlborough (1822–1883), politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 23, 2004. Oxford University Press. Date of access 3 Aug. 2026, <https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-5403> His widow Frances Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough leased No. 50 Grosvenor Square as her London residence from 1885 until her own death in 1899.

The 7th Duke was succeeded by his eldest son, George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough, who was then in the process of obtaining a divorce from his first wife, Albertha. As the divorce had not been finalised when the 8th Duke inherited the dukedom, Albertha was entitled to be known as Albertha, Duchess of Marlborough, but instead chose to continue to be known as Albertha, Marchioness of Blandford. Albertha’s London home was 108 Park Street, Mayfair from 1903 until her death in 1932. The 8th Duke remarried in 1888 to the wealthy American Lily Price Hamersley, widow of real-estate millionaire Louis Hamersley. From 1889 until his death in 1892, the 8th Duke leased No. 3 Carlton House Terrace as his London residence, which his widowed second wife Lily, Duchess of Marlborough continued to lease until 1903.

Sunderland House

By the late 1800s financial pressures and dwindling income from the family estates resulted in the Dukes of Marlborough no longer maintaining a permanent London House. This changed when Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough married the wealthy American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt in 1895; Consuelo's dowry included a Trust fund of $2,500,000 (£500,000) settled on her husband, as well as an income-for-life of $100,000 (£20,000) to be paid to Consuelo by her father, which more than doubled the income the 9th Duke received from his ancestral estates. During the early years of their marriage, the 9th Duke and Consuelo leased a series of London mansions, including Spencer House, 27 St James's Square in 1897, and Alington House, 8 South Audley Street in 1899.

The need for a permanent London residence to support the Duke's political aspirations resulted in Duke's father-in-law William Kissam Vanderbilt contributing an estimated $2,500,000 (£500,000) between 1901 and 1904 for the purchase of a freehold plot of land in Mayfair and construction of a London mansion for his daughter and son-in-law. The house was given the name Sunderland House following its completion, and served as the residence of the Duke and Duchess until their separation in 1906, after which it continued to be occupied by Consuelo until 1918, when she vacated the house for Government use. In June 1919 Consuelo purchased the lease of a smaller London residence at No. 1 Portman Square.

Twentieth Century