FAMILY, friends and schoolchildren paid their final respects to the 11th Duke of Marlborough at his funeral in Woodstock yesterday.

A black horse-drawn carriage led a cortege from the estate to St Mary Magdalene Church in Park Street, where family and close friends attended a service.

Outside the church, people solemnly gathered as readings and hymns were played through loudspeakers to the crowd.

John Spencer-Churchill, died last Thursday, aged 88.

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Benefice of Blenheim, rector Rev Canon Adrian Daffern, said he had been “a man of authority tempered by his humanity”.

He said: “His authority was all the greater because of his humour...which put me in giggles many times during services.”

During the ceremony hymns were sung by the late Duke’s children, Lady Alexandra, 37, Lord Edward, 40, and Lady Henrietta, 56, as well as Lord Jamie, 58, – Charles James Spencer-Churchill – who is now the 12th Duke of Marlborough.

Oxford Mail:

The 11th Duke’s distraught widow Lily Mahtani with his son, the 12th Duke, Charles James Spencer-Churchill and heir George  

The 12th Duke’s son George Spencer-Churchill, 22, who has inherited his father’s title Marquess of Blandford, also gave a reading of The Lesson, from Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 in the King James Bible.

A tribute to the late Duke was delivered by British financier Sir Mark Weinberg, who said: “He will be missed by his family here today and the many people honoured to be his friends.”

Delivering a message on behalf of the 12th Duke of Marlborough, known as Jamie Blandford, Rev Canon Daffern told mourners: “His Grace has asked me to offer thanks to everyone who has expressed their condolences to the family, it has meant a huge amount to them all.

“He also wishes to thank people at the palace, the estate, the community and the church.

“That we have managed to hold this service a week after his death, with such dignity, is a credit.”

Oxford Mail:

Ruby Turner, nine, from Woodstock, pays her respects along with a crowd of local mourners

State trumpeters from the Household Cavalry, which the late Duke had served under in the Life Guards as a captain, played the Last Post and sounded Reveille (The First Call).

The Bishop of Dorchester, the Rt Revd Colin Fletcher OBE, then gave a blessing and the coffin left the church, carried by Blenheim Palace gamekeepers.

It was to be taken back to the family seat, where the Duke was to be laid to rest in a crypt beneath.

In the procession to and from the church, the 12th Duke and the 11th Duke’s widow, Lily Mahtani, walked arm in arm, ahead of the rest of the family.

Pupils from Marlborough School, Woodstock Primary School and Bladon Primary School, paid their respects, lining the route of the cortege in the estate grounds.

Marlborough School principal Andrew Hanlon said: “I was proud to stand alongside fellow headteachers, staff and pupils from Woodstock and Bladon Primary Schools on such a moving and historic occasion.”

 

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