In many publications, one can read that one of the most influential politicians of the 20th century was born in several curious circumstances. We checked how plausible this detail of his biography is.

About the birth of Winston Churchill in the toilet / restroom / ladies' room of the Blenheim Palace during the ball, on which his mother Jenny danced, various collections are told ("1000 and 1 fact", Seti.ee), publications on popular sites ("Picabu", "Days.ru"), in social networks (Twitter, Facebook, "Zen"), as well as "Logical tasks and puzzles". This story is popular on West. The general nature of these publications is as follows: during the ball, Jenny began premature fights, and she barely managed to run to the nearest suitable room, namely to the restroom, where she was resolved from the burden.

Indeed, how It is noted On the website of the World Churchill Community - the most authoritative resource dedicated to the life and heritage of Sir Winston Churchill, the famous Englishman was born in 1874 in the Blenheim Palace. This is the birth estate of the Dukes of the Malboro, the ancestor of the politician in 1704 granted Queen Anna for the victory under the Blenheim over the French. As for the circumstances of the birth, this page does not contain such details. Roy Jenkins in his rather authoritative 900-page work on Churchill's life tells The following: “He was born on November 30, 1874, mainly by chance, in the Blenheim palace, in an unusually dull bedroom. <...> He was supposed to be born in January in a small but fashionable house on Charles Street (Maifer district), rented by his father specifically for this or, possibly, more purposefully, for the sake of use as a base for a several noisy capital's life, which the Lord Randolph and his seven and a half months as a spouse was equally loved. Since this house was not ready, they took refuge in the fall in Blenheim and, as Lord Randolph put it in a letter to his mother -in -law in Paris, “[Lady Randolf] fell on Tuesday, walking with arrow, and a rather inaccurate ride in a carriage, harnessed a pony, led to contractions on a Saturday evening. We tried to stop them, but it was it It is useless.

As you can see, no ball and no toilet. However, this is far from the only detailed biography of the British Prime Minister. John Pirson in his book "The private lives of Winston Churchill"Makes it clear why the version of premature birth could come to the fore:“ The wedding took place at the British embassy in Paris on April 15, 1874, with all the signs of a rapid and hidden novel.

The newlywed ladies and Lord Randolph. 1874.
*Photo: Wikipedia*

There was no splendor that usually happens at the wedding with such wealth and position in society, nor a public ceremony, few references in the press. The Duke and the Duchess [Malborough] were clearly absent. Was the [bride] already pregnant? <...> The data indicate what it could. Otherwise, to what a hurry, the modest ceremony and the demonstrative absence of the Duke of Malboro, followed by the birth without complications of a strong child, who was dubbed Winston. At that time, premature birth was explained by Jenny’s fall during shooting, followed by a “rather careless and rude trip in a carriage on a pony”, which, apparently, caused tribal contractions. A small room on the ground floor in Blenheim was prepared for childbirth. ”

This version is confirmed by one of the most detailed works about Churchill's life - the trilogy "The last lion»Writer and historian William Manchester. Here is what he writes: “Another circumstance that [the bride] preferred to hide from her husband’s family was that she was bearing their grandson. In fact, almost certainly she was in the third month of pregnancy, and soon it will begin to appear ... "prematurely"? So the information was sold to The Times. The heading of the birth notification reported: "On November 30, in the Palace of Blenheim, Lady Randolf Churchill was prematurely born a son." But no one believed this, nor the patrician friends of the family, chuckling at the announcement, nor even the Yumena of Woodstock, who, as Oxford Times reported, "cheerfully called church bells in honor of the event." Winston was full. It is generally accepted that somewhere in February, while driving crazy negotiations on marriage settlement, Jenny slipped away from her mother, threw off the incredible layers of clothing that the young ladies then wore and incorporated the seed of Randolph. Indeed, it was believed that the Duke and the Duchess knew about Jenny's pregnancy during the wedding - that is why they boycotted her. Sunny hints on the circumstances of their birth pursued Winston all his life. He enjoyed them. He replied: "Although I was present at this event, I do not remember very well the events preceding him." Of course, it is possible that his parents were slandered. The terms of pregnancy are different. Perhaps he was premature. That would be in his spirit. He could never wait for his turn. "

More importantly for us, Manchester gives the details of the birth of Winston Churchill: “This evening, the annual ball of St. Andrew took place in the palace. To the general surprise, including her husband, [Jenny] appeared on it in a free dress and with a ballbook. In fact, she made pirouettes on the floor when contractions began. Randolph wrote to his mother -in -law [Clara]: "We tried to stop them, but to no avail." Actually, it's time to choose a place for childbirth. Her grandmother Anne Leslie later described these searches. Accompanied by servants and aunt Randolf Clementine, Lady Kamden, she stumbled, left the party, which seemed to have fun without her, and, staggering, headed "past the endless anniversary of the living rooms, through the library," the longest room in England ", to her bedroom.

She did not have time. She lost consciousness, and she was taken to a small room next to the large hall of Blenheim. Once she belonged to the chaplain of the first duke; Today it was a women's dressing room. She spread out, she lay on velvet capes and prides of feathers, who deftly pulled out from under her when the ball was over and the cheerful guests parted. It was a long night, the servants scurried back and forth with pumps and towels. The pain, as Randolph Clara reported, "all Sunday continued." He telegraphed to the London obstetrician, whose Jenny consulted, but due to the schedule of Sunday trains, the doctor could not come earlier than Monday. Thus, the historical role to accept the greatest Prime Minister of England fell to Frederik Taylor, a doctor from Woodstock. “A rural doctor is a smart person,” Randolph reported, “and the child was safely born today at 1:30 in the morning after about eight -hour births. She [Jenny] suffered a lot, poor thing, but she behaved very bravely and did not take chloroform. The boy was surprisingly beautiful, everyone says that he has dark eyes and hair and a very healthy look, given his prematureism.”

Thus, although Winston Churchill’s mother was present at the dancing when she had fights, the room where she was allowed from Brazin was not a female toilet at all, but an ordinary living room, a former room of Capellan, temporarily used as a place for storage of outerwear. This is what this room looks like on the official website of the Blenheim Palace, where she Name small bedroom:

Where did the story with the restroom come from? Perhaps the whole point is that in English the word Cloakroom It has two values: 1) dressing room and 2) toilet (as euphemism). Similar ambiguity is found in Russian texts, since the phrase “ladies' room” also cannot always mean “toilet”. However, even such a detail as a description of the items of outerwear stored there, it takes off all doubts: there can be no question of the restroom.