Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (5 June 1660 – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier. She rose to be one of the most influential women of her time through her close friendship with Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Sarah enjoyed a long and devoted relationship with her husband of more than 40 years, the great general John Churchill, 1st Duke ofMarlborough.
About Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough in brief
Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (5 June 1660 – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier. She rose to be one of the most influential women of her time through her close friendship with Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Sarah enjoyed a long and devoted relationship with her husband of more than 40 years, the great general John Churchill, 1st Duke ofMarlborough. She campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the Whigs, while also devoting herself to building projects such as Blenheim Palace. A strong-willed woman, she strained her relationship with the Queen whenever they disagreed on political, court, or church appointments. After her final break with Anne in 1711, Sarah and her husband were dismissed from Court, but she had her revenge under the Hanoverian kings following Anne’s death. She later had famous disagreements with many important people, including her daughter Henrietta Godolphin; the architect of Blenheimer Palace, John Vanbrugh; Prime Minister Robert Walpole; King George II; and his wife, Queen Caroline. She died in 1744, aged 84. Sarah Jennings was the daughter of Richard Jennings, a Member of Parliament, and Frances Thornhurst; her paternal grandfather was Sir John Jennings, father, by his wife Alice Spencer, of an extraordinarily large family. Her uncle was a prominent naturalist. Sarah became close to the young Princess Anne in about 1675, and the friendship grew stronger as the two grew older.
When Sarah became pregnant, her marriage was announced publicly as a result of the furore surrounding the Popish Plot, and she retired from the court to give birth to her first child, Harriet, who died in infancy. In 1677, Sarah’s brother Ralph died and she and her sister, Frances, became co-irs of the estates in Hertfordshire and Kent. John and Sarah were both Protestants in a predominantly Catholic court, so they secretly married in the winter of 1677–78. John chose Sarah over Catherine Sedley but both families disapproved of the match, therefore they secretly remarried in 1677. Although no date was recorded, there was no date for the marriage, and Sarah went into exile to Scotland as the Duke of York went into self-imposed exile. In late 1675,. when she was still only fifteen, she met John Winston Churchill, 10 years her senior, who fell in love with her. John Churchill had previously been a lover of Charles II’s mistress, Barbara Palmer,. Duchess of Cleveland, had little to offer financially, as his estates were deeply in debt. Sarah had a rival for Churchill in Catherine Sedleys, a wealthy mistress of James II and the choice of Churchill’s father, Sir Winston Churchill. Sarah and John married secretly in 1678, and in 1679, Sarah gave birth to a daughter, Harriet. Sarah’s sister Frances was maid of honour to the Duchess of York, Anne Hyde.
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