BLENHEIM Palace has offered it condolences to the family of an elderly couple who were killed in a cottage fire on its grounds last month.

A spokesman said Donald and Dilys Thompson, 92 and 81, were valued members of the palace’s community.

An inquest into both of the deaths will be opened at Oxford Coroner’s Court on Thursday. 

The palace spokesman said: “The couple were valued members of the Blenheim Palace community and our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the family.

“We would urge everyone to respect their privacy at this extremely difficult and sad time.”

The couple were at home in The Fisheries Cottage on the night of Tuesday, November 8, when it was ravaged by fire, but the smouldering remains of the building were not discovered until the following day.

It was not until Tuesday, November 15, a week after the fire had first broke out, that police said they were satisfied the couple were in the cottage at the time of the blaze.

Police and firefighters completed a search of the property before preparing a file for the coroner.

Police did not treat the fire as suspicious.

It is believed that the cottage, which is to the north of the lakes in the palace grounds, was one of the last ‘grace and favour’ cottages given to people who had worked at Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

The cottage pre-dates the palace itself, having been built in the 1600s.