The First Churchills (1969)
The lives of the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, from their meeting in 1673 to the duke's death in 1722.
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Marlborough continues his success in the war against France, but his prestige at home and with Anne has been impaired by the devious backstairs intrigue of Robert Harley.
To save the Holy Roman Empire from French invasion Marlborough led his allied troops into Germany and defeated the French at the Battle of Blenheim.
Before he died William III recognised Marlborough as his successor in the task of defeating France. With the accession of Anne, John and Sarah have risen to a position of pre-eminence.
In an atmosphere of national panic John, falsely accused of Jacobite treachery, has been imprisoned for a time in the Tower. After Mary's death, William receives Anne at Court.
William III, with Churchill's help, has defeated James' attempted invasion of Ireland. John has been suspected of treason and dismissed from Court. Princess Anne has refused to obey her sister Mary and part with Sarah.
John Churchill owed much to James II. But the King was clearly determined to destroy the Protestant religion and the laws of England, so John decided to support William of Orange and the Revolution of 1688.
Monmouth, the hope of the Protestant rebels, was defeated by John Churchill at Sedgemoor.
Charles has been forced to send James into exile and to dissolve his factious parliament at Oxford. The Princess Anne has married George, Prince of Denmark, and has chosen Sarah to be one of her Ladies of the Bedchamber.
The rage against Popery in England continues. James, Duke of Monmouth, has become the protégé of Shaftesbury who plans to make him King. But Churchill has refused to support Monmouth. Charles has resisted all pressure to disinherit his brother James.
John and Sarah have married. Lord Shaftesbury has threatened Charles with rebellion. To appease his Protestant Parliament, Charles has arranged a marriage between Mary and the Prince of Orange.
In 1675 a masque was performed at the Court of Charles II at Whitehall. There the young soldier John Churchill, Groom of the Bedchamber to the King's brother, fell in love with a pretty lady-in-waiting, Sarah Jennings.
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The lives of the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, from their meeting in 1673 to the duke's death in 1722.
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