“In the mid-1870s the Churchills went into exile in Dublin after Lord Randolph, characteristically, took violent sides with his elder brother over a woman and antagonized the Prince of Wales.  The Duke of Marlborough had to be appointed viceroy of Ireland, and thither the Churchills went, to electrify Dublin Castle, until the storm blew over.  Winston’s earliest memory was of his grandfather, then viceroy, haranguing the elite in the courtyard of their castle.  The subject: war….”   This is immediately followed by another tack entirely, “Winston saw little of his parents, then and later….” and it goes on with talk of his nanny.

In other words, the grandfather was involved with the scandal, whether responsible for it or not, from re-reading this text, though I would be inclined to say that you are right and that it was the father, after all, who was the cause of the scandal .   Certainly, Winston’s father’s life had been filled with such troublesome outbursts. t Johnson observes of Lord Randolph at one point,  ”His political life was meteoric, turbulent and punctuated with spectacular rows”  (and follows that with some specific incidents) so it may have been the case here as well.    Still, at this distance, it is hard to understand the politics of how that one really went. By all means fill me in if you have particulars.
Thank you.
Julia Braun Kessler
 

I’m pretty sure that it was Churchill’s FATHER not grandfather who caused this problem.