How was the fate of 4 daughters and the son of the "greatest Briton" Winston Churchill

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Winston and Clementine Churchill's marriage was extremely successful. The couple were happy together for 57 years, despite the many trials they went through. They talk about Winston Churchill a lot as a politician, calling him sometimes "the greatest Briton", sometimes a cruel tyrant. But his role as head of the family and father is covered much less often. The Churchill couple had five children, but Marigold, one of the daughters, died before she was three years old. And only the youngest, Mary, became a consolation for her parents in old age. Two more daughters and a son were a constant source of concern for them, and each of them had their own tragedy.

Diana Churchill

The eldest daughter of the spouses was born in 1909. Parents admired the beauty of their baby and predicted a happy future for her. Since childhood, the baby dreamed of becoming an actress, and her parents did everything to make her dream come true. During her school years, she studied at the best educational institutions in England and France, and then became a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Winston Churchill was already anticipating the success of his eldest daughter, and there were only a few steps left to fulfill her dream.

An affair with John Bailey made Diana forget about her ambitious goals. School was abandoned and at the age of 23 the girl got married. Parents did not obstruct their daughter, but the mother repeatedly showed her dissatisfaction with Diana's chosen one. Unfortunately, she turned out to be right, and three years later Churchill's eldest daughter filed for divorce.

Soon Duncan Sandys appeared in her life, whom she married in 1935. The promising conservative politician seemed an excellent candidate for the role of head of the family and father of Diana's children. She gave birth to two children, her husband was actively building a career, but everything in their life was changed by the Second World War.

Sandys led the investigation into the discovery of the German secret weapon, and his wife went to serve in the Women's Auxiliary Service of the Navy. True, already in 1941 she was forced to return to London, as her husband got into a car accident, and her son and daughter demanded her presence at home. In 1943, Diana gave birth to another child. Constant concern about the fate of her husband and children affected the mental state of Diana. Nervous breakdowns followed one after another, and after the war they became more prolonged and severe.

In late 1950, Diana divorced her husband and volunteered for the Samaritan Society, which helped people fight depression and suicidal thoughts. While helping others, Diana was never able to help herself. In October 1963, she took a lethal dose of a sedative.

Randolph Churchill

The only son of Winston and Clementine Churchill gave his parents a lot of trouble from childhood. The boy was very gifted and was going to become a politician, like his father. But to his oratorical talent, he still could not apply even a drop of labor to achieve success. Randolph graduated from Eton College, then Christ Church in Oxford.

At 18, Randolph shocked his parents by drinking undiluted double brandy, and then he added to them anxiety when they had to constantly pay off his debts. He loved to live in a big way, easily borrowed money from friends, and back in 1932 for the first time announced that he would certainly become prime minister, like his father. Clementine tried to influence her son, but he was the favorite of Winston Churchill, who often indulged the whims and weaknesses of the offspring.

During World War II, Randolph served in the hussar regiment, then in the air service, repeatedly visited the Libyan desert and participated in a special mission in Yugoslavia, for which he received a government award. But his political career did not work out. He did not have enough diligence and hard work to achieve his goals.

Randolph was married twice, had two children from different wives, and a long love affair with a married woman.

In the memoirs of contemporaries, Randolph remained a spoiled, hot-tempered, very irritable and emotional person with excessive ambition and an irrepressible craving for alcohol. He fully inherited his father's writing gift, became the author of several books. A year after his father's death, he began writing the official biography of Winston Churchill, but managed to write only two volumes. He died in 1968 of a heart attack.

Sarah Churchill

Sarah, born in 1914, like her older sister Diana, dreamed of becoming an actress. But unlike Diana, Sarah was ready for anything for a career. Already at the age of 21, she first appeared on the stage and was forever convinced of the correctness of the chosen path. In 1936, she married Australian comedian Vic Oliver, disregarding her parents' opinion of the marriage. She is generally used to achieving what she wants, no matter what.

With the outbreak of World War II, Sarah, who had by that time played roles in several plays and films, persuaded her father to send her to serve in the Women's Auxiliary Service of the Navy. At the same time, she refused an administrative position, but was proud of her work in aviation, where she analyzed data on the locations and movements of enemy troops obtained as a result of aerial photography, determining targets for bombing.

But Sarah's married life did not work out. After the husband found out about his wife's affair with the American ambassador, he filed for divorce, and the ambassador himself took his own life. After the tragedy, Sarah left for America, married the photographer Anthony Beauchamp, in marriage with whom she began to abuse alcohol more and more often. Anthony, suffering from depression, died of an overdose of sleeping pills, and Sarah returned to the UK and married Lord Ordley.

This marriage could have been very happy, but a year after the marriage, the husband of Winston Churchill's daughter died. For the fourth time, Sarah was about to marry an African American jazzman, but her father used all his influence to prevent the wedding from taking place. After that, Sarah's depression and alcoholism only intensified. She spent the rest of her life hugging a bottle and died in 1982.

Mary Churchill

After Sarah, in the family of Clementine and Winston Churchill in 1918, a daughter, Marigold, was born, who died of sepsis before she could celebrate her third birthday. A year later, in 1922, the youngest daughter, Mary Churchill, was born. It was she who developed the warmest relations with her parents, and she became their consolation and support.

Mary, barely graduating from high school, volunteered for the Red Cross and then joined the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Corps. She served in anti-aircraft batteries and air defense, bore the rank corresponding to the rank of captain, was awarded the Order of the British Empire. During the war, Mary often accompanied her father on foreign trips.

Later, the parents wanted to arrange the marriage of their youngest daughter with the Belgian prince Karl, and it is unlikely that Mary would disobey them. But while she and her father were heading to Belgium, during a stop in Paris, she met Captain Christopher Soums. She could cope with her feelings for this young man, but, fortunately, the Belgian prince changed his mind about marrying, and Mary became the wife of Christopher Soums in the winter of 1947.

They lived together for 33 years, became the parents of five children, and only Christopher's death could separate them. Mary lived a long and happy life, became the author of many books about the Churchill family. She outlived her sisters and brother and passed away in 2014.

Good sons who love and respect their mother become good husbands. Lady Blanche thought so, blessing her daughter Clementine to marry Winston Churchill. And she was not mistaken - this happy marriage, which became a model of loyalty and devotion, lasted more than half a century.