His immense estate includes 11,500 acres of Oxfordshire and a majestic estate larger than Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, a disparity that caused George III to acknowledge that he had “nothing to equal it.”
But it was his second marriage, rather than his almost unimaginable material blessings, that prompted a friend to describe Jamie Blandford (now Duke of Marlborough) as “a very lucky man”.
His wife was the lovely and no-nonsense Edla Griffiths, of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, whom the then Marquess of Blandford met while living in Chelsea, honing her craft as a potter.
They married in 2002, in the registry office of Woodstock, the honey-coloured town separated by a wall from the 2,000-acre estate of parkland, at the heart of which is Blenheim Palace, whose roofs cover three full acres.
The Duke of Marlborough and Edla Griffiths (pictured) married in 2002 at Woodstock Registry Office, Oxfordshire.
The couple met while Edla was living in Chelsea, honing her craft as a ceramist.
Pictured: The Duke of Marlborough marries his first wife, Becky Few-Brown.
But, to the dismay of their friends, the union appears to have run its course. “Jamie and Edla have broken up,” one tells me. ‘It is very sad.’
The duke, 68, who has a son and daughter, both teenagers, with Edla, 56, declines to comment.
But apparently he doesn’t lack female company. “A friend, Doune Murray, is comforting him,” they tell me.
Those who hope the marriage can be saved still cite previous marital turmoil.
The first was in early 2004, when Edla moved, not amused because Jamie had been wandering for eight weeks: first to Australia, where he watched the Rugby World Cup, then to Switzerland, where he went skiing in Verbier, the resort where Her friend, Paddy McNally, Fergie’s first great love, entertained in style at her chalet.
Pictured: Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough
Blenheim Palace (pictured) was built in the 18th century for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.
Pictured: the gardens of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire
The Duke of Marlborough’s vast estate includes 11,500 acres of Oxfordshire
Three years later came an even tougher test when a series of motoring and “road rage” offenses saw Jamie jailed for six months.
By then, Edla had already been credited by many (Jamie included) for “calming him down” after his turbulent twenties and thirties, during which, at his lowest point, his desire for drugs regularly took him to the famous Mozart estate. in north London. .
Now she made it clear to him that he would lose her unless he reformed forever. He duly did so, aware that his first marriage, to Becky Few-Brown, with whom he had a son, George, now Marquess of Blandford, had failed due to his partying habits that once saw him shoot the streetlights of Verbier with a shotgun. , perhaps destabilized by McNally’s hospitality.
In recent years, she has done nothing more controversial than forming a bond with Donald Trump, in whose honor a banquet was held in Blenheim in 2018. That couldn’t have persuaded Edla to call it a day… could it?
