Diana Churchill | |
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Born | Pimlico, London, England | 11 July 1909
Died | 20 October 1963 Westminster, London, England | (aged 54)
Education | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Known for | Winston Churchill's daughter |
Spouses |
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Children | 3, including Edwina Sandys |
Parent(s) | Winston Churchill Clementine Hozier |
Diana Spencer-Churchill (11 July 1909 – 20 October 1963) was the eldest daughter of British statesman Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill.
Diana Churchill was born at 33 Eccleston Square, London, on 11 July 1909,[1] the first of five children of Winston Churchill – then a member of Parliament and government minister – and Clementine Hozier. She attended Notting Hill High School and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she spent five terms,[2][3] although her focus was not on acting.
On 12 December 1932, she married John Milner Bailey (15 June 1900 East Grinstead – 13 February 1946 Cape Town, South Africa), who became the Bailey baronet Sir John Milner Bailey, 2nd Bt, but the marriage was unsuccessful and they divorced in 1935. On 16 September 1935, she married the Conservative politician Duncan Sandys (later life peer Lord Duncan-Sandys). They had three children together and divorced in 1960.
In 1962, she changed her name by deed poll back to Diana Churchill.[4]
With Duncan Sandys she had three children:
She was an officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War.
Churchill had several nervous breakdowns. In 1962, she began working with the Samaritans, an organisation created for the prevention of suicide.[7] On 20 October 1963, she died at 58 Chester Row, Westminster, S.W.1, leaving an estate valued at £59,259.[8] The cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates, and a coroner later concluded that it was a case of suicide.[7] She is buried with her parents (who both outlived her) and her siblings (Marigold originally was interred in Kensal Green Cemetery in London, but her remains were relocated in 2019 to join the rest of her family) at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.