His immense inheritance includes 11,500 acres of Oxfordshire and a stately pile bigger than Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle – a disparity that caused George III to acknowledge that he had ‘nothing to equal this’.
But it was his second marriage, rather than his almost unimaginable material blessings, that led one friend to describe Jamie Blandford – now the Duke of Marlborough – as ‘a very lucky man’.
His bride was the delightful, down-to-earth Edla Griffiths, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, who met the then Marquess of Blandford while living in Chelsea and perfecting her craft as a ceramicist.
They married in 2002 at the registry office in Woodstock, the honey-colored town separated by the estate wall from a 2,000-acre park, with Blenheim Palace at its heart, the roofs of which themselves cover no less than three acres.
The Duke of Marlborough and Edla Griffiths (pictured) were married at the registry office in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, in 2002
The pair met while Edla was living in Chelsea and perfecting her craft as a ceramicist
Pictured: The Duke of Marlborough marries his first wife Becky Few-Brown
But to the dismay of friends, the union now appears to have run its course. “Jamie and Edla have broken up,” someone tells me. “It’s very sad.”
The duke, 68, who has a son and daughter, both teenagers, and Edla, 56, declined to comment.
But apparently he is not deprived of female company. “He is being comforted by a friend, Doune Murray,” I am told.
Those who hope that the marriage can still be saved report previous marital fits.
The first was in early 2004, when Edla moved, unamused that Jamie had wandered for eight weeks – first to Australia, where he watched the Rugby World Cup, then to Switzerland, where he went skiing at Verbier, the resort where his friend, Paddy McNally – Fergie’s first love – was entertained in style at his chalet.
Pictured: Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire – the residence of the Dukes of Marlborough
Blenheim Palace (pictured) was built in the 18th century for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
Pictured: the gardens of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire
The Duke of Marlborough’s immense estate covers 11,500 acres in Oxfordshire
An even tougher test came three years later when Jamie was jailed for six months for a series of driving and ‘road rage’ offences.
By then, Edla was already credited by many – including Jamie – with ‘putting him at ease’ after his turbulent 20s and 30s, during which his drug cravings at his lowest point took him regularly to the infamous Mozart Estate in North London led. .
She now made it clear that he would lose her unless he reformed for good. He did so – well aware that his first marriage to Becky Few-Brown, with whom he had a son, George, now the Marquis of Blandford, had failed because of a hard-partying style that once saw him shoot out Verbier’s street lamps with a shotgun . , perhaps destabilized by McNally’s hospitality.
In recent years he has done nothing more controversial than building a relationship with Donald Trump, in whose honor a banquet was held in Blenheim in 2018. That wouldn’t have convinced Edla to end it… right?