Randolph Churchill

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This article is about the British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill's son. For Sir Winston's father, see Lord Randolph Churchill.

Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer-Churchill MBE (28 May 1911 - 6 June 1968) was the son of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine.

He was married twice; his first marriage, to the well-known socialite Pamela Digby, later and better known as Pamela Harriman, produced a son, Winston Churchill, who followed in his footsteps as a Member of Parliament, and by his second marriage - to June Osborne - he had a daughter, Arabella Churchill. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston from 1940 to 1945.

During World War II, Randolph Churchill went on a military/diplomatic mission to Yugoslavia in 1944, part of the British support for the Partisans during that civil war. He and Evelyn Waugh narrowly escaped capture/death when the Germans undertook Operation Rösselsprung, and had paratroops and glider-borne storm troops attack the Partisan headquarters where they were staying. An outcome was a formidable report detailing Tito's persecution of the clergy. It was "buried" by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden (who also attempted to discredit Waugh) to save diplomatic embarrassment as Tito was then seen as a required ally of Britain and an official "friend".

Randolph Churchill's political career (and that of his son) was not as successful as Sir Winston's or his grandfather Lord Randolph's. He was appointed an MP during the war to fill a vacancy, but failed to keep his seat after the war. He stood for parliament on many other occasions, and was defeated at each — including losing to future Labour leader Michael Foot in 1951. He only entered Parliament during the war in an uncontested by-election.

Randolph was often portrayed as the bête noire of the Churchills - irascible, bad-tempered, spoilt by his father, and with a serious drinking problem. But he inherited his father's literary flair, and carved out a career for himself as a successful writer. He started the official biography of his father in 1966, but had only finished the second volume by the time of his death in 1968. It was posthumously completed by Sir Martin Gilbert.

His father declined a peerage, that of Duke of London, so as to not compromise his son's chances of a political career, since by 1911 it had become traditional for British Prime Ministers to come from the lower house of Parliament (the House of Commons). If Sir Winston Churchill had accepted a peerage (even near death), then his son would have automatically been forced to move to the House of Lords. Had Winston Churchill accepted, then Randolph would have been styled Randolph Churchill, 2nd Duke of London. (In 1963, hereditary peers were allowed to disclaim their titles, although the only peer to do so and become Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home — previously the 14th Earl of Home — served very briefly in that office.)

He died of a heart attack in 1968, aged 57. He is buried with his parents and siblings at St Martin Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.