Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, Duke of, 1871-1934

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (13 November 1871 – 30 June 1934) was a British soldier and Conservative politician, and a close friend of his first cousin Winston Churchill. Marlborough was married twice. His first wife was the American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, whom he married at Saint Thomas Church in New York City on 6 November 1895. They had two sons, John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, eventually the 10th Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill. In the late 1890s, the Duke married Gladys Deacon, another American. She and Marlborough were married on 25 June 1921 in Paris, shortly after his divorce from Consuelo.