Diana Churchill


Diana Spencer-Churchill was the eldest daughter of British statesman Sir Winston Churchill and Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill.

Personal life

She attended Notting Hill High School and then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she spent five terms, although her focus was not on acting. On 12 December 1932, she married John Milner Bailey, 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. After they had had three children, that marriage also ended, and they were divorced in 1960.
On 11 April 1962, her name was legally changed back to Diana Churchill.

Children

With Duncan Sandys she had three children:
She was an officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service during the Second World War.

Health issues and suicide

Diana had several nervous breakdowns. In 1962, she began working with the Samaritans, an organisation created for the prevention of suicide. In 1963, she died, aged 54, from an overdose of barbiturates. A coroner later concluded that the death was a suicide. She is buried with her parents and siblings at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.