Witness of the Churchill family – Blenheim Palace
Different from the luxury of the Romans and the romance of the French, the British manors are far away from the hustle and bustle, full of refreshing country atmosphere. Stepping into the manor where Blenheim Palace is located, a green lawn extends to the distance along with the undulating terrain, and the wide corridor in the middle leads to a majestic and splendid ancient building in the distance, which is located in this green wonderland. Among them is the central building of the manor – Blenheim Palace, where the famous former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was born.
Blenheim Palace is located in Oxfordshire, a beautiful town in the south of England. It covers an area of 2,100 acres and was listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1987. It is the birthplace of the Churchill family and represents the splendor and glory of the Churchill family, so it is also known as the Churchill Manor. It was John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough in the Churchill family, who created Blenheim Palace and the surrounding large estates for the family.
John Churchill was born in Devon, England in 1650. At this time, Britain had just experienced a civil war. King Charles I was sent to the guillotine. Britain was in the period of the Cromwell government, and John’s father was a royalist. The family has been defeated in the civil war. In 1660, the Protectorate Government was overthrown, and the royalist forces defeated in the civil war recovered, and supported the son of Charles I as King of England, called Charles II. Because of John’s father Churchill Sr.’s close relationship with the royal family, John was sent to the palace to serve the then Duke of York James. John is courageous, brave in battle, and has a great political vision. He is appreciated by the Duke of York and constantly promoted.
Duke of Marlborough John Churchill
In 1685, the Duke of York came to the throne as James II. At this time, the Duke of Monmouth, the illegitimate son of the former King Charles II who coveted the throne, launched an army to crusade against the “usurper”, and the king sent Churchill to lead troops to suppress the rebellion. In the battle, John Churchill showed extraordinary talents. He was brave and good at fighting, commanded well, won continuous victories, and finally defeated the rebel army of the Duke of Monmouth. The Duke of Monmouth himself was captured and then guillotined. This incident provided a historic opportunity for John Churchill to rise to prominence. Due to his brilliant military exploits, Churchill was promoted to major general and then a baron, and he rose to the noble class.
But in the English sectarian dispute that occurred three years later, the Protestant John Churchill stood against the Catholic King James II. At that time, James II attempted to use the power of France to restore the Catholic Church and feudal rule in England, and had a fierce conflict with the Congress. The Congress relied on the Protestant Prince of Orange, James II’s son-in-law William III, to lead troops. Crusade against the king. James II promoted Churchill to lieutenant general and ordered him to lead troops to resist. Unexpectedly, Churchill suddenly defected and joined the Protestant camp. The Prince of Orange’s army was generally supported, and marched victoriously towards London, while James II, deserted by his relatives, fled hastily to France. Afterwards, Parliament declared the Prince of Orange and his wife King and Queen of England, known as William III and Mary II. At the same time, Congress passed the constitutional document “Bill of Rights”, which limited the power of the king and expanded the power of the bourgeoisie, and established a constitutional monarchy in the UK. Because this coup did not lead to a large-scale civil war, it was called the “Glorious Revolution” in history. Although some people accused John Churchill of betraying the old master and being unfaithful during the “Glorious Revolution”, what he did actually conformed to the historical trend and made efforts for national progress and social development. John Churchill was soon promoted to Earl of Marlborough due to his repeated military exploits during the reign of William III.
In 1702, William III died and Queen Anne came to the throne. At this time, the War of Spanish Succession broke out. Due to different interests, Britain and France confronted each other in the war. John Churchill was appointed by Queen Anne as the commander-in-chief of the domestic and foreign armies, responsible for the war against France. Due to his outstanding performance, Churchill was soon named Duke of Marlborough. In 1704, the Battle of Blenheim broke out between Britain and France in Bavaria. The Duke of Marlborough led the British army to defeat the French King Louis XIV and the Bavarian allies. The entire territory of Bavaria was occupied, and the French court completely gave up hope of victory. This battle was a famous battle that decided the fate of the entire Spanish War of Succession and shook France’s ambition to dominate Europe. John Churchill received a huge reward from Queen Anne for this brilliant victory. A monumental official residence was built on the old site to reward John Churchill, and in order to commemorate his great achievements, the palace was named after the battlefield of victory, called Blenheim Palace.
After the Queen’s order was issued, Blenheim Palace was designed and supervised by Sir J. Vanbrugh, a famous architect at the time, in 1705. However, the construction process was not smooth. The political enemies of the Duke of Borough tried their best to undermine Queen Anne’s love for him. As a result, the funds approved for the construction of the manor were not in place, and the Duke was exiled. In 1712, all work on building the estate was stopped. It was not until the death of Queen Anne that the Duke of Marlborough was able to return to his hometown and was reused again that the construction of Blenheim Palace continued. It was not until 1722 that the construction of the official residence was basically completed. However, the Duke of Marlborough had died of illness at this time, and he was unable to see the whole picture of the palace in his lifetime.
Lord Architect Sir
Vanbrugh Blenheim Palace
The garden layout and architectural style of Blenheim Palace are designed to reflect the outstanding achievements of the Duke of Marlborough. It adopts the Baroque style, using huge stones to embody strength, and using the light and shade of the lines of the shape to set off the atmosphere. In the manor, there are poetic and picturesque gardens, lush green lawns, rippling clear lake water, lush and pleasant woods, and pastoral pastures with rolling terrain. Lakes and forests are integrated into one, full of pastoral atmosphere. The palace is magnificently decorated, and a large number of high-standard oil paintings, sculptures, tapestries and many high-end and exquisite furniture are preserved. The grand hall is 67 feet high, with frescoes on the ceiling vividly depicting scenes from the Battle of Blenheim, and long arched corridors extending to the north and south sides of the hall. On the walls of the main living rooms on the west side of the palace, murals and tapestries record the bravery of the Duke of Marlborough and the beauty of the Duchess. On the westernmost side of the hall is the 55-meter-long library, which was originally designed as a gallery, and the interior contains full-length statues of Queen Anne, King William II and John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, while displaying some palaces The interior is quite exquisitely decorated. When Queen Anne rewarded the Duke of Marlborough with Blenheim Palace, she said that if Britain could defeat France on the battlefield, it should also be superior to France in terms of architecture. Therefore, many British people believed that Blenheim Palace could compete with France. comparable to the Palace of Versailles.
Blenheim Palace was born for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, but became famous for Winston Churchill, Britain’s “wartime prime minister”. Churchill’s father, Randolph Churchill, was the third son of the seventh generation Duke of the Marlborough family. According to British law, the title and territory should be inherited by the eldest son, and the second and youngest sons can only serve in the government, army, colonial administration or The religious circles sought a way out, so Randolph had no right to inherit Marlborough’s title and territory, so Blenheim Palace did not belong to Randolph either. However, by chance, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was later famous at home and abroad, was born here. In the early winter of 1874, Randolph Churchill and his wife Jenny were invited to live in Blenheim Palace. On a brightly lit night, Jenny and a group of noble men and women danced in Blenheim Palace and suddenly showed signs of labor. They helped her to a temporary women’s changing room nearby, and not long after, a lovely boy was born in Blenheim Palace, and he was Winston Churchill.
Churchill’s father was the British Chancellor of the Exchequer and the leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons, and his mother was the daughter of an American financier. This family background paved the way for him to enter the political arena in the future. In his youth, Churchill was smart and full of energy. He quickly emerged in the political arena and his political performance was thriving. In the year when he was the Minister of Trade of the British Cabinet, another event closely related to his life happened in Blenheim Palace . In 1908, Churchill brought his favorite woman, the young and beautiful Clementine, to Blenheim Palace. One afternoon, he and Clementine were walking in the garden. Big raindrops fell tightly. So he and Clementina quickly hid in the Temple of Diana in the botanical garden by the lake. The two people were surrounded by a peaceful atmosphere in the church. Perhaps affected by this, Churchill proposed to Clementina, whom he had always loved. , the result is of course a happy one. The couple held their wedding in September, when King Edward VII presented the couple with a cane engraved with the family crest of the Marlborough family.
Churchill served as ministers of the British Empire’s Home Office, Commerce, Treasury, and the Navy. He was ordered to form a wartime cabinet during World War II, and led the British people to a great victory in the anti-fascist war. One of Roosevelt’s “wartime Big Three”. From 1951 to 1955, Churchill served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom again, and is considered one of the most important political leaders in the 20th century. He was not only an excellent politician, but also a quick-witted orator and writer. In 1953, Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for his outstanding literary works and shocking speeches. In 2002, the BBC held a survey called “The 100 Greatest Britons”. As a result, Churchill was selected as the greatest Briton of all time. After retirement, Churchill and his wife came to Blenheim Palace to enjoy his old age. After his death, he was buried in the chapel near Blenheim Palace.
As a statesman who governed the country, a writer who wrote a lot, an eloquent orator and a legendary hero in war, Churchill enjoyed an indisputable position in British history. Although Churchill could not inherit and hereditary Blenheim Palace, he experienced three very important things in his life here – birth, family and rest, which is also the irreplaceable historical commemorative value of Blenheim Palace important reason. The world-renowned Winston Churchill added more glory and higher popularity to the estate. Blenheim Palace specially set up the Churchill exhibition room, occupying two rooms on the first floor of the palace and a long corridor. The exhibition room displays a large number of photos about Churchill’s life and the typical items he used during his lifetime, from top hats to cigars, from the bed he was born to the crutches in his later years, from private letters to books and magazines he read, showing people Churchill’s extraordinary life .
After more than 300 years of family ups and downs, Blenheim Palace still looks peaceful. The manor still belongs to the Churchill family, inherited by John George Vanderbilt Spencer Churchill, the 11th Duke of Marlborough, but the aristocrats of those days are not what they used to be. At present, the eleventh Duke of Marlborough only lives in a small part of the manor during part of the year, leaving the main building open to the outside world. In the exhibition display of Blenheim Palace, there is such a sentence: “I am very grateful to this family, from which two people who have made great contributions to our country were born. The UK is grateful to them.” I believe that everyone who goes to Blenheim Palace Those who visit will remember John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who led the country to victory in the Anti-Fascist War. The history of more than 300 years is silent in every corner of the manor. While people understand the history of the Churchill family, they may also feel the ups and downs of the world and the vicissitudes of history.
