Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough

Dagmar Rosita Astrid Libertas Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (née Douglas; born 26 September 1943, Madrid) is a British artist of Swedish and German descent. She was the third wife of John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, from 1972 until their divorce in 2008.

She was born as Countess Rosita Douglas in Madrid, Spain, the younger daughter of Count Carl Douglas (1908-1961), a Swedish nobleman and diplomat who was Royal Swedish Ambassador to Brazil, and his Prussian wife Ottora Maria Haas-Heye (1910-2001), maternal granddaughter of Philip, Prince of Eulenburg and Hertefeld, by his wife Augusta, Countess Sandels. She grew up as a diplomat’s child, travelling all over the world but spent her summers at the family home, the castle of Stjärnorp, which belonged to Rosita's paternal grandfather, General Archibald Douglas.

Rosita Douglas attended schools in Sweden and in Washington DC. She studied arts at Sweden’s renowned art school Konstfack in Stockholm, and then at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris. While in Paris she also worked for the famed fashion designer, Emanuel Ungaro and later as a freelance designer in London.

On 20 May 1972, Rosita Douglas became the third wife of John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, an Englishman who had inherited his father's estates and titles two months before. She thus became Duchess of Marlborough, with a number of residences which included Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. They had three children:

The duke and duchess were divorced in 2008, after several years of living separately. According to newspaper reports, the Duchess moved into a smaller house on the Blenheim estate and also bought herself a house in France.

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