[1] Spencer Churchill was the son of John Strange Spencer-Churchill (1880–1947) and Lady Gwendoline Theresa Mary Bertie (1885–1941).

[2] His paternal grandparents were Lord Randolph Churchill, the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, and his wife, Lady Frances Vane, and Lady Randolph Churchill (née Jennie Jerome), an American who was the daughter of Leonard Jerome, one of the richest and most influential men in New York City in the middle to late 19th century, and a frequent business partner of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

[4] He served in the Second World War as a Corps Camouflage Officer, and after returning from Dunkirk, told his uncle personally of the need for small boats to assist in rescuing the troops there.

[5] The New York Times described the book as telling the first 50 years of his life, and as for the future, it quoted him stating: "The First Duke of Marlborough was 52 when he fought the Battle of Blenheim.

[7] The family lived briefly with the Winston Churchills at Chartwell, before returning to Spain but the marriage did not last long, for Angela formed a relationship with a Frenchman, René Guillet de Chatellus whom she married in 1948.