Churchills’ turbulent relationship recounted

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This article was published 08/05/2021 (1962 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On the night that his wife was giving birth to their son, Randolph Churchill was in bed with another man’s wife.

This was typical of Randolph, the only son of Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

British journalist Josh Ireland depicts the troubled relationship between Winston and Randolph in a highly readable work of popular narrative history.

The roots of the Winston-Randolph relationship extend to Winston’s own childhood. His father, British politician Lord Randolph, ignored Winston, and did not even know how old his son was.

Winston was determined that his own son would not be neglected. But Winston’s political career and devotion to the aristocratic life — hunting, playing polo, dining with friends — pulled him away from the family home. He spent only “short bursts of time” with his children — Randolph had three sisters, and a fourth had died in childhood — while their mother Clementine was so devoted to Winston’s career that the children were an afterthought.

Randolph as a child was bored and behaved badly. He craved attention, which he found he could get by being naughty. He needed firm but loving discipline, but did not get it. Instead, Winston spoiled him.

Winston entertained grandiose visions of a political dynasty that he would found with his son. There was one problem with these visions: Randolph himself, who had grown into a lazy, arrogant and rude young man. He was a playboy, a spendthrift, a ne’er-do-well, addicted to gambling and alcohol.

As Ireland writes, Randolph “was louder and ruder and funnier than anybody else, he drank more, gambled more, ate more, and slept with more women than anyone he knew.”

Randolph accepted the political dreams and ambitions that his father had instilled in him. But he eschewed patient, diligent application to achieve his goals. Rather, he thought that charm, charisma and after-dinner witticisms were the key to success.

In 1930, Randolph was invited to make a lecture tour of the United States. He was paid a considerable sum but, by the time the tour was over, he had spent all that he had earned. Moreover, he had incurred debts that would take decades to pay off.

Randolph, it should be said, had some redeeming qualities. He had a genuine gift for public speaking, and a memory that enabled him to recite lengthy passages of classic literature. He had a capacity for kindness. And in the Second World War, he ardently wanted to serve in combat, and did, earning a medal for bravery. He died of a heart attack in 1968 at age 57.

This is a story of frustrated ambition and squandered potential. Above all, it is a study of personality. The author vividly portrays the character of Winston and Randolph, showing how their respective personalities interacted in a relationship that could be, in turn, loving and volatile. Ireland evokes this turbulence in an outstanding account.

Graeme Voyer is a Winnipeg writer.