Marlborough wrote to Lord Raby, the English resident at Berlin: " If it should please God to give us victory over the enemy, the Allies will be little obliged to the King for the success.

Marlborough ’ s horse tumbled and the Duke was thrown – " Milord Marlborough was rid over ," wrote Orkney some time later.

Marlborough realised the great opportunity created by the early victory of Ramillies: " We now have the whole summer before us ," wrote the Duke from Brussels to Robert Harley, " and with the blessing of God I shall make the best use of it.

" This ," wrote Marlborough wearily, " I take to be owing to our late success.

When William left for Ireland in June 1690 Marlborough became commander of all troops and militia in England, and was appointed a member of the Council of Nine to advise Mary on military matters in the King's absence ; but she made scant effort to disguise her distaste at his appointment – " I can neither trust or esteem him ," she wrote to William.

Marlborough did not wish for a Jacobite restoration, but William was conscious of his military and political qualities, and the danger the Earl posed: " William was not prone to fear ," wrote Thomas Macaulay, " but if there was anyone on earth that he feared, it was Marlborough.

' It really looks more like a dream than truth ', wrote Marlborough to Sarah.

It was in response to Macaulay's History that Winston Churchill wrote his four-volume work, Marlborough: His Life and Times ( published from 1933 – 1938 ).

In 1963 a group of boys, led by the future political biographer Ben Pimlott, wrote a book, " Marlborough, an open examination written by the boys ," describing life at the school.

There was initial opposition to the match from the Duke of Clarence's parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales: Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Salisbury in 1890 that "( t ) he Teck girl they won't have because they hate Teck and because the vision of Princess Mary haunting Marlborough House makes the Prince of Wales ill ." Nevertheless, the Queen gave her official consent to the engagement on 12 December 1891.

While captain of cricket at his school, Marlborough, 11 years earlier, Martin-Jenkins wrote to Brian Johnston asking him how to become a cricket commentator.

Princess Anne wrote to her friend the Duchess of Marlborough, " My boy continues yet very well, and looks better, I think, than ever he did in his life ; I mean more healthy, for though I love him very well, I can't brag of his beauty.

Smith was of Flemish origin ; he wrote the military part of Cox's Marlborough and many military and natural history books.

Realising the danger, the Duke of Marlborough resolved to alleviate the peril to Vienna by marching his forces south from Bedburg and help maintain Emperor Leopold within the Grand Alliance.

Both the Imperial Austrian Ambassador in London, Count Wratislaw, and the Duke of Marlborough realised the implications of the situation on the Danube.

The John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough | Duke of Marlborough's march from Bedburg ( near Cologne ) to the Danube.

The Duke had assured the Dutch that if the French were to launch an offensive he would return in good time, but Marlborough calculated that as he marched south, the French commander would be drawn after him.

In this assumption Marlborough proved correct: Villeroi shadowed the Duke with 30, 000 men in 60 squadrons and 42 battalions.

Portrait of the Duke of Marlborough by Adriaen van der Werff ( December 1704 ) Uffizi

Some Allied officers who were acquainted with the superior numbers of the enemy, and aware of their strong defensive position, ventured to remonstrate with Marlborough about the hazards of attacking ; but the Duke was resolute – " I know the danger, yet a battle is absolutely necessary, and I rely on the bravery and discipline of the troops, which will make amends for our disadvantages ".

In February 1705, Queen Anne, who had made Marlborough a Duke in 1702, granted him the Park of Woodstock and promised a sum of £ 240, 000 to build a suitable house as a gift from a grateful crown in recognition of his victory – a victory which British historian Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy considered one of the pivotal battles in history, writing – " Had it not been for Blenheim, all Europe might at this day suffer under the effect of French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent and those of the Romans in durability.

Memoirs of the Duke of Marlborough: vol. i. London, ( 1847 )

Also determined to fight a major engagement, the Duke of Marlborough, commander-in-chief of Anglo-Dutch forces, assembled his army – some 62, 000 men – near Maastricht, and marched past Zoutleeuw.

The Duke of Marlborough had intended the 1705 campaign – an invasion of France through the Moselle valley – to complete the work of Blenheim and persuade King Louis XIV to make peace, but the plan had been thwarted by both friend and foe alike.

The reluctance of his Dutch allies to see their frontiers denuded of troops for another gamble in Germany had denied Marlborough the initiative, but of far greater importance was the Margrave of Baden ’ s pronouncement that he could not join the Duke in strength for the coming offensive.

The year 1705 proved almost entirely barren for the Duke whose military disappointments were only partly compensated by efforts on the diplomatic front where, at the courts of Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Vienna, Berlin and Hanover, Marlborough sought to bolster support for the Grand Alliance and extract promises of prompt assistance for the following year ’ s campaign.

With these reverses, the Dutch now refused to contemplate Marlborough ’ s ambitious march to Italy or, indeed, any plan that denuded their borders of the Duke and their army.

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough ( 1650 – 1722 ) by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

The following day, at 01: 00, Marlborough dispatched Cadogan, his Quartermaster-General, with an advanced guard to reconnoitre the same dry ground that Villeroi ’ s army was now heading, country that was well known to the Duke from previous campaigns.

" Fortunately Marlborough ’ s newly appointed aide-de-camp, Richard Molesworth, galloped to the rescue, mounted the Duke on his horse and made good their escape, before Murray ’ s disciplined ranks threw back the pursuing French troopers.

After a brief pause, Marlborough ’ s equerry, Colonel Bringfield ( or Bingfield ), led up another of the Duke ’ s spare horses ; but while assisting him onto his mount, the unfortunate Bringfield was hit by an errant cannonball that sheared off his head.

The Duke of Marlborough receives captured standards at Ramillies.

By the time Marlborough had closed down the Ramillies campaign he had denied the French most of the Spanish Netherlands west of the Meuse and north of the Sambre – it was an unsurpassed operational triumph for the English Duke.

Eugene enhanced his standing during the War of the Spanish Succession where his partnership with the Duke of Marlborough secured victories against the French on the fields of Blenheim ( 1704 ), Oudenarde ( 1708 ), and Malplaquet ( 1709 ); he gained further success in the war as Imperial commander in northern Italy, most notably at the Battle of Turin ( 1706 ).

The John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough | Duke of Marlborough was the commander of the English, Dutch and German forces.

Walpole's service in these offices made him a close advisor of the Duke of Marlborough, the commander of British forces in the War of the Spanish Succession and a dominant force in British politics.

* John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 18th century British commander.

However, at the Battle of Walcourt on 25 August 1689 Marlborough won praise from the Allied commander, Prince Waldeck – " ... despite his youth he displayed greater military capacity than do most generals after a long series of wars ...

Representing William III in The Hague as Ambassador-Extraordinary and as commander of English forces, Marlborough was tasked to negotiate a new coalition to oppose France and Spain.

By now Marshal Villeroi had replaced Boufflers as commander in the Spanish Netherlands, but although Marlborough was able to take Bonn, Huy, and Limbourg in 1703, continuing Dutch hesitancy prevented him from bringing the French to a decisive battle.

However, the main event followed on 13 August when Marlborough – assisted by the Imperial commander, the able Prince Eugene of Savoy – delivered a crushing defeat on Marshal Tallard's and the Elector of Bavaria's army at the Battle of Blenheim.

To military historians David Chandler and Richard Holmes, Marlborough is the greatest British commander in history, an assessment that is shared by others, including the Duke of Wellington who could " conceive nothing greater than Marlborough at the head of an English army.

As a commander Marlborough preferred battle over slow moving siege warfare.

Aided by an expert staff ( particularly his carefully selected aides-de-camp such as Cadogan ), as well as enjoying a close personal relationship with the talented Imperial commander, Prince Eugene, Marlborough proved far-sighted, often far ahead of his contemporaries in his conceptions, and was a master at assessing his enemy's characteristics in battle.

The commander of the allied armies was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, whose chief deputy was the commander of the Empire's army Prince Eugène of Savoy, who was his close friend.

A tablet formerly attached to a house at the corner of Great Marlborough Street and Foubert's Passage ( now Place ) was inscribed " Marlborough Street 1704 ", the name being in honour of the commander of the English Army, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.