Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, in the robes of the Order of the Garter by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1704[16]

In 1677, Jennings's brother Ralph died, and she and her sister Frances became co-heirs of the family estates in Hertfordshire and Kent. Churchill chose Sarah Jennings over Catherine Sedley, but both Churchill's and Jennings's families disapproved of the match, and therefore they married secretly in the winter of 1677–78.[17]

John and Sarah Churchill were both Protestants in a predominantly Catholic court, a circumstance that would complicate their political allegiances. Although no date was recorded, the marriage was announced only to the Duchess of York and a small circle of friends, so that Sarah could keep her court position as Maid of Honour.[18]

When Churchill became pregnant, her marriage was announced publicly (on 1 October 1678), and she retired from the court to give birth to her first child, Harriet, who died in infancy. When the Duke of York went into self-imposed exile to Scotland as a result of the furore surrounding the Popish Plot, John and Sarah accompanied him, and Charles II rewarded John's loyalty by creating him Baron Churchill of Eyemouth in Scotland. As a result, Sarah became Lady Churchill. The Duke of York returned to England after the religious tension had eased, and Sarah was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Anne after the latter's marriage in 1683.

The early reign of James II was relatively successful; it was not expected that a Catholic king could assert control in a fiercely Protestant, anti-Catholic country.[19] In addition, his daughter and heir was a Protestant. However, when James attempted to reform the national religion, popular discontent against him and his government became widespread. The level of alarm increased when Queen Mary gave birth to a Roman Catholic son and heir, Prince James Francis Edward, on 10 June 1688.[20] A group of politicians known as the Immortal Seven invited Prince William of Orange, husband of James's Protestant daughter Mary, to invade England and remove James from power, a plan that became public knowledge very quickly. James still retained some influence, and he ordered that both Lady Churchill and Princess Anne be placed under house arrest at Anne's residence (the Cockpit[lower-alpha 1]) in the Palace of Whitehall. Both their husbands, though previously loyal to James, had switched their allegiances to William of Orange. In her memoirs, Lady Churchill described how the two easily escaped captivity and fled to Nottingham:

The Princess went to Bed at the usual time to prevent suspicion. I came to her soon after; and by the backstairs which went down from her closet, her Royal Highness [Princess Anne], my Lady Fitzharding [one of Sarah's closest friends] and I, with one servant, walked to the coach where we found the Bishop [of London] [i.e. Henry Compton], and the Earl of Dorset. They conducted us that night to the Bishop's house in the city, and the next day to my Lord Dorset's at Copt-Hall. From there we went to the Earl of Northampton's, and thence to Nottingham, where the country gathered about the Princess; nor did she think herself safe till she saw that she was surrounded by the Prince of Orange's friends.

— Hooke 1742, p. 19

Although Churchill implied that she had encouraged the escape for the safety of Princess Anne, it is more likely that she was protecting herself and her husband.[21] If James had succeeded in defeating Prince William of Orange in battle, he might have imprisoned and even executed Lord and Lady Churchill for treason, whereas it was unlikely he would have condemned his daughter to a similar fate.[21] But James fled to France in December 1688 rather than confront the invading army, allowing William to take over his throne.[19]

Life for Churchill during the reign of William and Mary was difficult. William and Mary awarded Churchill's husband the title Earl of Marlborough, but the new earl and countess enjoyed considerably less favour than they had during the reign of James II.[22] The Earl of Marlborough had supported the now exiled James, and by this time, the Countess's influence on Anne, and her cultivation of high members of the government to promote Anne's interests, was widely known. Mary II responded to this by demanding that Anne dismiss Lady Marlborough. However, Anne refused. This created a rift between Mary and Anne that never healed.[23]

Other problems also emerged. In 1689, Anne's supporters (including the Marlboroughs and the Duke of Somerset) demanded that she be granted a parliamentary annuity of £50,000, a sum that would end her dependence on William and Mary.[24] The Countess of Marlborough was seen as the driving force behind this bill, creating further ill-feeling towards her at court. William responded to the demand by offering the same sum from the Privy Purse to keep Anne dependent on his generosity. However, Anne, through the Countess of Marlborough, refused, pointing out that a parliamentary grant would be more secure than charity from the Privy Purse.[21] Eventually Anne received the grant from Parliament and felt she owed this to the Countess's efforts.[24]

The Countess's success as a leader of the opposition only intensified Queen Mary's animosity towards the Marlboroughs. Although she could not dismiss the Countess of Marlborough from Anne's service, Mary responded by evicting the Countess from her court lodgings at the Palace of Whitehall. Anne responded by leaving the court as well, and she and the Countess went to stay with their friends the Duke and Duchess of Somerset at Syon House. Anne continued to defy Mary's demand for the Countess's dismissal, even though an incriminating document signed by the Earl of Marlborough supporting the recently exiled James II and his supporters had been discovered. This document is likely to have been forged by Robert Young, a known forger and disciple of Titus Oates; Oates was famous for stirring a strongly anti-Catholic atmosphere in England between 1679 and the early 1680s.[25] The Earl was imprisoned in the Tower of London.[26] The loneliness the Countess suffered during these events drew her and Anne closer together.[25]

Following the death of Mary II from smallpox in 1694, William III restored Anne's honours, as she was now next in line to the throne, and provided her with apartments at St. James's Palace. He also restored the Earl of Marlborough to all his offices and honours and exonerated him from any past accusations. However, fearing the Countess's powerful influence, William kept Anne out of government affairs, and he did not make her regent in his absences though she was now his heir apparent.[27]

Lord Godolphin was a lifelong friend of the Duchess of Marlborough.

Anne, however, expected kindness and compassion from her closest friend. The Duchess was not forthcoming in this regard and frequently overpowered and dominated Anne. One major political disagreement occurred when the Duchess insisted that her son-in-law Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, be admitted into the Privy Council. The Duchess allied herself more strongly with the Whigs, who supported the Duke of Marlborough in the war, and the Whigs hoped to utilise the Duchess's position as royal favourite.[35]

Anne refused to appoint Sunderland. She disliked the radical Whigs, whom she saw as a threat to her royal prerogative.[36] The Duchess used her close friendship with Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, whom Anne trusted, to eventually secure such appointments, but continued to lobby Anne herself. She sent Whig reading materials to Anne in an attempt to win her over to her own preferred political party.[37] In 1704, Anne confided to Lord Godolphin that she did not think she and the Duchess of Marlborough could ever be true friends again.

The Duchess of Marlborough (right) playing cards with her closest friend, Barbara, Lady Fitzharding, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1702[38]

The Duchess's frankness and indifference for rank, so admired by Anne earlier in their friendship, was now seen to be intrusive. The Duchess had a powerful intimacy with the two most powerful men in the country, the Duke of Marlborough (her husband) and the Earl of Godolphin. Godolphin, though a great friend of the Duchess, had considered refusing high office after Anne's accession, preferring to live quietly and away from the Duchess of Marlborough's political side. The Earl considered the Duchess (as a powerful and intelligent woman) bossy, interfering, and presuming to tell him what to do when the Duke was away.[39]

The Duchess, although a woman in a man's world of national and international politics, was always ready to give her advice, express her opinions, antagonize with outspoken censure, and insist on having her say on every possible occasion.[40] However, she had a charm and vivaciousness admired by many, and she could easily delight those she met with her wit.[40]

Anne's apparent withdrawal of genuine affection occurred for a number of reasons. She was frustrated by the Duchess of Marlborough's long absences from court and despite numerous letters from Anne to the Duchess on this subject, the Duchess rarely attended. There was also a political difference between them: the Queen was a Tory (the party known as the "Church party", religion being one of Anne's chief concerns), and the Duchess was a Whig (the party known to support Marlborough's wars).

The Duchess did not share Anne's deep interest in religion, a subject she rarely mentioned, although at their last fraught interview she did warn Anne that she risked God's vengeance for her unreasoning cruelty to the Duchess. The Queen did not want this difference to come between them, but the Duchess, always thinking of her husband, wanted Anne to give more support to the Whigs, which she was not prepared to do.[36]

The Duchess of Marlborough was called to Cambridge in 1703, where her only surviving son, John, Marquess of Blandford, was taken ill with smallpox. The Duke was recalled from the war and was at his bedside when he died on 20 February 1703.[22] The Duchess was heartbroken over the loss of her son and became reclusive for a period, expressing her grief by closing herself off from Anne and either not answering her letters or doing so in a cold and formal manner.[41] However, the Duchess did not allow Anne to shut her out when Anne suffered bereavement.

After the death of Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, in 1708, the Duchess arrived, uninvited, at Kensington Palace to find Anne with the prince's body. She pressed the heartbroken Queen to move from Kensington to St James's Palace in London, which Anne bluntly refused, and instead commanded the Duchess to call Abigail Masham to attend her. Aware that Masham was gaining more influence with Anne, the Duchess disobeyed the Queen, and instead scolded her for grieving over Prince George's death. Although Anne eventually submitted and allowed herself to be taken to St James's Palace, the Duchess's insensitivity greatly offended her and added to the already significant strain on the relationship.[42]

The Duchess of Marlborough had previously introduced her impoverished cousin, then known as Abigail Hill, to court, with the intention of finding a role for her. Abigail, the eldest daughter of the Duchess's aunt, Elizabeth Hill (Jennings), was working as a servant to Sir John Rivers of Kent when the Duchess first learned of her existence. Because the Duchess's grandfather Sir John Jennings had fathered twenty-two children, she had a multitude of cousins and did not know them all. Out of kindness and a sense of family solidarity, she gave Abigail Hill employment within her own household at St Albans, and after a tenure of satisfactory service, Hill was made a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Anne in 1704. The Duchess later claimed in her memoirs that she had raised Hill "in all regards as a sister", though there were implications that she only assisted her cousin out of embarrassment of her difficult circumstances.[43]

Hill was also a second cousin, on her father's side, to the Tory leader Robert Harley, later first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer. Flattering, subtle and retiring, Hill was the complete opposite of the Duchess of Marlborough, who was dominating, blunt and scathing.[2] During the Duchess's frequent absences from court, Hill and Anne grew close. Not only was Hill happy to give the Queen the kindness and compassion that Anne had longed for from the Duchess, she also never pressured the Queen about politics. Anne responded with pathos to Hill's flattery and charm.[44] She was present at Hill's secret wedding, in 1707, to Samuel Masham, groom of the bedchamber to Prince George, without the Duchess's knowledge.[45]

The Duchess was completely oblivious to any friendship between Anne and Abigail Masham and was therefore surprised when she discovered that Abigail frequently saw the Queen in private.[21] The Duchess found out about Masham's marriage several months after it had occurred and immediately went to see Anne with the intention of informing her of the event. It was at that interview that Anne let slip that she had begged Masham to tell the Duchess of the marriage, and the Duchess became suspicious about what had really happened.[21] After questioning servants and the Royal Household for a week about Masham's marriage, the Duchess discovered that the Queen had been present and had given Abigail a dowry of £2,000 from the Privy Purse. That proved to the Duchess that Anne was duplicitous. Despite being Keeper of the Privy Purse, the Duchess had been unaware of any such payment.[46]

Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1702. The Duchess wears the symbol of her office and authority: the gold key.[47]

In July 1708, the Duke of Marlborough and his ally Prince Eugene of Savoy won a great victory at the Battle of Oudenarde. On the way to the thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral, the Duchess of Marlborough engaged in a furious argument with the Queen about the jewels Anne wore to the service, and showed her a letter from the Duke which expressed hope that the Queen would make good political use of the victory. The implication that she should publicly express her support for the Whigs offended Anne; at the service the Duchess told the Queen to "be quiet" after Anne continued the argument, thus offending the Queen still further.[48]

Anne's next letter to the Duchess was an exercise in chilling hostility, referring sarcastically to the "command" the Duchess had given her to be silent. As a result the Duchess, who rarely admitted that she was in the wrong, for once realised that she had gone too far and apologised for her rudeness, but her apology had little effect. Anne wrote to the Duke of Marlborough, encouraging him not to let her rift with the Duchess become public knowledge, but he could not prevent his wife's indiscretion.

The Duchess continued vehemently supporting the Whigs in writing and speaking to Anne, with the support of Godolphin and the other Whig ministers. The news of the public's support for the Whigs reached the Duke in letters from the Duchess and Godolphin, which influenced the Duke's political advice to the Queen. Anne, already in ill health, felt used and harassed and was desperate for escape.[2] She found refuge in the gentle and quiet comfort of Abigail Masham.[49]

Anne had explained before that she did not wish the public to know that her relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough was failing, because any sign that the Duchess was out of favour would have a damaging impact on the Duke's authority as captain-general. The Duchess was kept in all of her offices – purely for the sake of her husband's position as Captain-General of the army – and the tension between the two women lingered until early in 1711.[50] This year was to see the end of their relationship for good.

The Duchess had always been jealous of Anne's affection for Abigail Masham after she learned of it. With the Duke of Marlborough and most of the Whig party, she had tried to force Anne to dismiss Masham. All these attempts failed, even when Anne was threatened with an official parliamentary demand from the Whigs, who were suspicious of Masham's Tory influence with Anne.[51] The whole scenario echoed Anne's refusal to give up Sarah Churchill during the reign of William and Mary, but the threat of parliamentary interference exceeded anything tried against Anne in the 1690s.[27]

Anne was ultimately triumphant; she conducted interviews with high-ranking politicians of both political parties and begged them "with tears in her eyes" to oppose the motion.[27] The general view was that the Marlboroughs had made themselves look ridiculous over a trivial matter – since when, it was asked, did Parliament address the Queen on whom she should employ in her bedchamber?

The passion Anne showed for Masham, and the Queen's stubborn refusal to dismiss her, angered the Duchess to the point that she implied that a lesbian affair was taking place between the two women.[52] During the mourning period for Anne's husband, the Duchess was the only one who refused to wear suitable mourning clothes. This gave the impression that she did not consider Anne's grief over his death to be genuine.[53] Eventually, because of the mass support for peace in the War of the Spanish Succession,[54] Anne decided she no longer needed the Duke of Marlborough and took the opportunity to dismiss him on trumped-up charges of embezzlement.[55]

Kensington Palace, where the Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne met for the last time, as it looked in Anne's time

The Duchess's last attempt to re-establish her friendship with Anne came in 1710 when they had their final meeting. An account written by the Duchess shortly afterwards shows that she pleaded to be given an explanation of why their friendship was at an end, but Anne was unmoved, coldly repeating a few set phrases such as "I shall make no answer to anything you say" and "you may put it in writing".

The Duchess was so appalled by the Queen's "inhuman" conduct that she was reduced to tears, and most unusually for a woman who rarely spoke of religion, ended by threatening the Queen with the judgment of God. Anne replied that God's judgment on her concerned herself only, but later admitted that this was the one remark from the Duchess that hurt her deeply.

After hearing this, the Duke of Marlborough, realising that Anne intended to dismiss him and his wife, begged the Queen to keep them in their offices for nine months until the campaign was over, so that they could retire honourably. However, Anne told the Duke that "for her [Anne's] honour" the Duchess was to resign immediately and return her gold key – the symbol of her authority within the royal household – within two days.[56] Years of trying the Queen's patience finally had resulted in her dismissal. When told the news, the Duchess, in a fit of pride, told the Duke to return the key to the Queen immediately.[56]

In January 1711, the Duchess of Marlborough lost the offices of Mistress of the Robes and Groom of the Stole and was replaced by Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset. Abigail Masham was made Keeper of the Privy Purse. This broke a promise Anne had made to distribute these court offices to the Duchess of Marlborough's children.[57]

The Marlboroughs also lost state funding for Blenheim Palace, and the building came to a halt for the first time since it was begun in 1705. Now in disgrace, they left England and travelled in Europe. As a result of his success in the War of the Spanish Succession, the Duke of Marlborough was a favourite among the German courts and with the Holy Roman Empire, and the family was received in those places with full honours.

The Duchess, however, did not like being away from England and often complained that she and the Duke were received with full honours in Europe, but were in disgrace at home. The Duchess found life travelling the royal courts difficult, remarking that they were full of dull company.[58] She took the waters at Aachen in Germany on account of her ill health, corresponded with those in England who could supply her with political gossip, and indulged in her fascination with Catholicism.[59]