Blenheim Palace, 2013; Meeting With The 11th Duke Of Marlborough

Rebecca wanted to see a few of the great houses, and there are few, if any, greater than Blenheim. Vicki and I had visited it in 2009, it was near Oxford, and on the way to our next destination. Plus, there was a special, unforgettable if unforeseeable encounter at the end of the day.

It's pretty special, even as great houses go: Queen Anne's
gift to John Churchill, aka the Duke of Marlborough,
who defeated the forces of Louis XIV in the latter's quest
for domination of the Continent in the early 1700s; at the
Battle of Blenheim; alas, the War of the Spanish Succession
isn't much featured in American textbooks; another famous
Churchill was born in the Palace years later (see my 2009
post for more); grounds by Capability Brown, of
course

The temple where Winston proposed to Clementine

Still life by Winston Churchill

Rebecca and Penelope on the Blenheim train

An Owl butterfly at Blenheim's Butterfly House; largest
butterfly I have ever seen; Blenheim has a very nice and
conventional family area just a train ride from the Palace
itself

Meanwhile, back at the Palace, the entry rotunda

Dining room

One of the State Rooms

Tapestry depicting the French surrender at Blenheim

The Duke of Marlborough's note to the Queen informing her
of the victory and French surrender

Great Hall

In the distance, the great monument to the
first Duke of Marlborough

Now things get interesting; we had pretty much closed the
Palace and gift shoppes and were walking back to the
campground, which is actually on the estate grounds; but
the gate we had entered was now closed; so we headed off
across the grounds in the direction we thought best, aided
by some vague advice from an employee; and got to this
"no pedestrians" exit

When up drives a Range Rover and this
gentlemen, attired in grey slacks and a
light blue sweater (as I recall), hops out
to tell us we can't exit the egress, it's cars
only, too dangerous; we all immediately
recognize him (from photos in the Palace)
as the 87-year-old John George Vanderbilt
Henry Spencer-Churchill, the 11th Duke of
Marlborough; Vicki and Rebecca handled
the conversation, for our part, as I tried
to get a good angle from which to
inconspicuously whip out the camera
and document the "meeting"--I never did;
he finally relented, probably in view of
Penelope and the fact we'd have to
wheel her another couple miles to get
to the "proper" exit; we got out the car
exit OK, and he drove off to another
visitor adventure; and it turned out the
campground was just a couple hundred
feet away; wow! We're still talking about
it...