Diana Churchill

Diana Spencer Churchill was born on 11 July 1909 at 33 Eccleston Square, London. She was the eldest daughter of Winston Churchill, a notable British statesman, and Clementine Hozier Churchill. Her siblings included Marigold Churchill, among others. Churchill received education at Notting Hill High School and subsequently attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for five terms; however, her studies were not focused on a career in acting.

Churchill was married twice. Her first marriage was to John Milner Bailey on 12 December 1932. Bailey was born on 15 June 1900 in East Grinstead and died in Cape Town, South Africa, on 13 February 1946. Bailey later became Sir John Milner Bailey, 2nd Baronet. The marriage between Churchill and Bailey was unsuccessful, leading to their divorce in 1935.

Her second marriage was to Duncan Sandys, a Conservative politician who later became a life peer known as Lord Duncan-Sandys. The marriage took place on 16 September 1935. Together, they had three children: Julian Sandys, Edwina Sandys, and Celia Sandys. Churchill and Sandys divorced in 1960.

Their children include:

- The Honourable Julian Sandys (born 19 September 1936, died 15 August 1997). He married Elisabeth Martin in 1970, and they had four children: Lucy Diana Sandys (born 1971), who married David Pite in 2007 and has two children; Duncan John Winston Sandys (born 1973), who married Mary Brown C. Brewer and has one son; Jonathan Martin Edwin Sandys (1975–2018), who married Sara Hill in 2009 and had two children, notable as the great-grandchildren of Winston Churchill born in Texas; and Roderick Julian Frederick Sandys (1977–2007).

- The Honourable Edwina Sandys (born 29 December 1938). She married Piers Dixon in 1960 (divorced 1973), with whom she had two sons, Mark Pierson Dixon (born 1962) and Hugo Duncan Dixon (born 1963). She married Richard D. Kaplan in 1985.

- The Honourable Celia Sandys (born 18 May 1943). She married Michael Kennedy in 1965 (divorced 1970) and has one son, Justin Kennedy. She married Sir Dennis Walters in 1970 (divorced 1979) and has one son, Alexander Winston Duncan Perkins. Subsequently, she married Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Perkins in 1985, with whom she has two children: Sophie Rachel Perkins (born 1988) and another child.

During World War II, Churchill served as an officer in the Women's Royal Naval Service.

Churchill experienced several nervous breakdowns throughout her life. In 1962, she began collaborating with the Samaritans, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention. On 20 October 1963, she died at 58 Chester Row, Westminster, S.W.1, as a result of an overdose of barbiturates. The coroner's report concluded the death was a case of suicide. At the time of her death, her estate was valued at £59,259. She was interred at St Martin's Church in Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, alongside her parents and siblings. Her sister Marigold's remains were moved in 2019 to be buried with the family.