The pairs marriage disintegrated as quickly as it came about: both husband and wife were serially unfaithful, and Margaret forged papers suggesting her husbands children from his previous marriages were illegitimate. Historical Trips - Book your next historical adventure, 6 Secret Historic Gardens in the United Kingdom, Join Dan Snow for the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings, War of The Worlds: The Most Infamous Radio Broadcast in History, The King Revealed: 10 Fascinating Facts About Elvis Presley, 10 Facts About American Poet Robert Frost. Id had no idea of the magnificence of the early life of this only child of a self-made millionaire of Scottish origins. In 1990, three years before her death, Margaret reflected on the absurdly high highs and low lows of her life, in an interview quoted by The Telegraph. Photographs submitted to the Edinburgh court, according to The New York Times, reportedly showed a naked man gratifying himself and pictured her, dressed in nothing but three strands of pearls, performing a sex act on a naked man in the mirrored gilt and silver bathroom of her Mayfair apartment.. I must have clutched at it, for it was later found that all my fingernails were torn off. The photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the 'headless man' Polaroid. she said. Everywhere she turns, she just comes straight up against the thing of like, you have no recourse.. They make a quick but racy stop-off in a cleaning cupboard, before going up to see Margaret's parents. She wrote later in life: I had wealth, I had good looks. During the divorce proceedings, he listed 88 men who he believed his wife had an affair with, including Hollywood actors, two government ministers and three British royals. "She. A selection of short interviews with Margaret Whigham, Duchess of Argyll. Lord Denning, who was called upon by the government to track down the "headless man", compared the handwriting of the five leading "suspects", (Duncan Sandys; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; John Cohane, an American businessman; Peter Combe, a former press officer at the Savoy Hotel; and Sigismund von Braun, brother of the German scientist Wernher von Braun) with the captions written on the photographs. Ian had referred to Margaret as Satan. The type, to be harsh, is familiar today. I was as good of a witness as I could be. And her exploitsas debutante of the year in 1930 and prolific high-society partygoerearned her international press coverage and a reference in Cole Porters Youre the Top., She was the most photographed woman of her time, of her generation, says Sarah Phelps, the writer who adapted Margarets story for A Very British Scandal, the miniseries coming to the U.S. April 22. Shortly afterwards, she announced her engagement to Charles Guy Fulke Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick. One compares her to a sex-addicted chimpanzee. For the Duchess of Argyll, the sex was not fake and neither was the humiliation. 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The daughter of a textile millionaire, she dazzled with her beauty (green eyes, fair skin, red lipstick), devil-may-care social strategy (she double-booked men for the evening), and nouveau riche accoutrement (she was chauffeured to and from school in a Rolls-Royce, skied at St. Moritz, and wore gowns from Norman Hartnell). About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. [14], The Duchess counter-petitioned the divorce, accusing the Duke of committing adultery with her stepmother, Jane Corby Wigham. Her first husband concurred that she was never the same after this fall. This drama captures that sense of national outrage in those opening shots, as the duchesss car is besieged on a London street by onlookers who hurl abuse and spit at the windows. Margaret wearing a pink ball gown in 1938. The two began living separately, but the dramatics still escalated. I had a really wonderful time from the period between 43 and 51. The toxic love affair between the Duke and Duchess started with Margaret divorcing her then-husband to marry Ian, who would become the Duke of Argyll. [2], The Sweenys divorced in 1947. She published a haughty memoir, Forget Not, in which she offered entertaining tips and entitlement in reamsbut nothing about the men shed written about in her diary. The Duke was known to be addicted to alcohol, gambling and prescription drugs, and was described as physically violent and emotionally abusive by his first two wives, whose money he tried to use to maintain Inveraray Castle. Inside the Succession Drama at Scholastic, Where. For four decades, the money cascaded into the Whigham account year after year. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. Now there may be a showdown brewing over billions of dollars in kids fare. [8], The Duchess never revealed the identity of the "headless man", and Fairbanks always denied the allegation. a self-confessed wolf. That, and three strands of pearls!" Foy has said how uncomfortable they made her feel: Its grim, the grimmest thing you can do. In 1943, she suffered a catastrophic fall that left her with 30 stitches and a broken vertebra, temporarily unable to walk. He told her about his five years in a prisoner-of-war camp and she listened. A friend of mine, born in 1932, explained to me: You have no idea how drab things were in the days before 15 minutes of fame for everyone. [8] The Duchess herself forged letters to sow doubt about the fatherhood of Ian Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne, and Lord Colin Campbell, her husband's sons from his second marriage to Louise Timpson; and she even tried to acquire a newborn baby she could pass off as her husband's rightful heir. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs. You feel exposed.. Inside the sad decline of 'Fairy Floss Girl': How the racegoer who shot to fame when Kyle Sandilands gushed that Student who refused to enter arranged marriage was stabbed in the chest with a metal spike by her uncle and Theatre issues trigger warning for production which 'involves the handling of a cooked egg'. It even gives shape to the viewers unconscious thoughts. The only women who had glamorous lives were film stars, princesses or members of the aristocracy. Meeting by chance on a train, Argyll told Margaret of some of his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War Two, omitting the fact that the trauma had left him reliant on alcohol and prescription drugs. The identity of the Headless Man was never revealed during her lifetime. Margarets marriage to Ian, and the nasty, heavily publicized breakup that followedthe longest and costliest divorce proceeding in British history at the timedominate the shows three episodes. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The list is said to include two government ministers and three members of the British royal family. The Queen epitomises everything selfless, noble and honest about a traditional ruling class. [1] After the end of her first marriage, Margaret was briefly engaged to a Texas-born banker, Joseph Thomas of Lehman Brothers, but he fell in love with another woman and the engagement was broken. To the fury of her father, she became pregnant as a result. [12] He suspected the Duchess of infidelity and, while she was in New York, engaged a locksmith to break open a cupboard at their Mayfair home, 48 Upper Grosvenor Street. Sex, secrets and suspicion the true story of a duchess publicly shamed in a high society divorce that gripped the nation. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man' and his identity has been largely speculated. Margaret Whigham was a sensation to British society when she arrived from America as a teenager in the 1920s. During the divorce proceedings, the Duke produced various incriminating letters and photographs, which he took from the Duchess's Mayfair home. The evidence discovered resulted in the 1963 divorce case,[13] in which the Duke accused his wife of infidelity and included a set of Polaroid photographs of the Duchess naked, save for her signature three-strand pearl necklace, in the company of another man. Margaret carried on, though her final chapters were still quite sad. Margaret with J Paul Getty at a film premiere in London, 1970, Of the splendour of these years, she said to biographer Charles Castle: The period between 1930 and 1933 was packed with gaiety and fun It was heaven. All rights reserved. It comes just days after Foy spoke out about how she hates doing sex scenes, saying they make her feel 'exploited' and that they are the 'grimmest thing you can do'. [14] It is claimed that this analysis proved that the man in question was Fairbanks, then long married to his second wife, but this was not made public. Who took her seriously at the time? After she married American golfer Charles Sweeny, Cole Porter counted her among the worlds greatest glories. Margaret Campbell in 1972. Long afterwards, it was claimed that there were actually two "headless men" in the photographs, Fairbanks and Sandys, the latter identified on the basis of the Duchess's statement that "the only Polaroid camera in the country at that time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence". The Sexual Revolution with Virginia Nicholson, Anne Franks Legacy: How Her Story Changed the World. She later discovered that her husband had led her to believe she had legal claim to the property, in reality it would be passed down to Ians sons from a prior marriage. Upon seeing the presented evidence in court, the judge, Lord Wheatley, said: There is enough in her own admissions and proven facts to establish that by 1960 she was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men. But in the days when society scandals were few and far between, this one was the ne plus ultra. Debutantes were not expected to discuss the great issues of the day but merely to issue pleasant tinkling laughs while the man spoke. When American-raised heiress Margaret was 14, her father George would drive from their Ascot home to Eton, to round up good-looking boys for her tennis parties. She described herself as "always vain". Life was so simple. Margaret is played by Claire Foy (our young Queen in The Crown), with a script by Sarah Phelps. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. Her Norman Hartnell wedding dress cemented her status as one of the most glamorous socialites of the era, with crowds reportedly gathering to catch a glimpse of it. . [4], On 21 February 1933, following her conversion to Roman Catholicism,[2] Margaret married Sweeny at the Brompton Oratory, London. But it became a trial, says Phelps. Glamorous top lawyer, 27, is arrested and charged with multi-million dollar fraud: Cops search her flamboyant Another close call! The judge did not release compromising images of her but did describe them in clear detail. Originally published by London County Council, London, 1980", "For sale: London residence where Duchess scandalised society", "Tony Wilson 'Britain's finest live presenter', "Duchess of Argyll's funeral demonstrates that feelings will not rest", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Campbell,_Duchess_of_Argyll&oldid=1126443115, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from January 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Her divorce from the Duke of Argyll was dramatised in the, This page was last edited on 9 December 2022, at 10:25. Later, when they met again, Ian had inherited the dukedom, but the eccentric 10th Duke, his late relation, had let things fall to wrack and ruin. Pay the b-b-bills its what youre for.. But when her racy private photographs were stolen, scandal turned the public against her, In Queen Margrethe II of Denmarks last interview before her extensive surgery, she spoke of the royal title drama and Crown Prince Frederiks future on the throne, Crown Princess Mary carries out solo engagement on visit to India with Crown Prince Frederik, Dove / Daily Express / Getty Images / Hulton Archive, Bert Hardy / Picture Post / Hulton Archive / Getty Images. But Ian Campbell would also be her doom. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) Looks and charm and money, of course were the main things, alongside social rank. Getty Images. The target of an impoverished duke, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll loved the company of men. 16:57 GMT 27 Dec 2021. Lizzie May For Mailonline Her funeral, a requiem mass, was held at Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in Mayfair. But that didn't stop the Duke and his guest from sleeping together. How did it come to this? Many of the 88 men listed were in fact homosexual, but given that homosexuality was illegal in Britain at the time, Margaret stayed quiet in order not to betray them on a public stage. The movie star was named as Margarets lover, one of the 88 men on the list that the Duke produced in court. And what were the infamous Polaroid photos that proved so contentious? Twitter users commented on how awkward it was to watch the three sex scenes in the presence of older family members. Inveraray Castle, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Argyll, photographed in 2010. Rather than clarifying the relationships, which would have outed her friends, Margaret refused to comment. She was thought to be the inspiration for Cole Porters 1934 song Youre the Top. Her first marriage to Sweeny ended after the war as first he and later she started various affairs. He could have just given the judgment, I find in favor of the plaintiff. Tatler is mischievous, glamorous, intelligent and fun, providing an insider's view of what is really happening in British society with a compelling mix of fashion, the arts, politics, people, parties and glamour.Tatler UKTatler contributorsThe BYSTANDER Everything about everybody everywhereDI. The first woman to be slut shamed. The top was what I was supposed to be. What Did People Wear in Medieval England? Margaret, Duchess of Argyll with her poodle in 1989. He claimed she had taken on an amazing 88 lovers, including cabinet ministers, Hollywood stars and royals, during their marriage. There was no legal recourse. Their wedding day in 1933 was a glamorous affair, stopping traffic for three hours as 2,000 guests attended the Brompton Oratory in west London while another 2,000 onlookers gathered to see the stunning 28ft train to her Norman Hartnell wedding gown. (Always a poodle, only a poodle! Her own generation would chuckle if her name came up and refer to the Headless Man scandal, as though that had been the only interesting thing about Margarets long life. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. The legal bills cost her a fortune. [20], In 1978, Margaret's debts forced her to move from Upper Grosvenor Street and relocate with her maid to a suite at the Grosvenor House Hotel. She was brave in the war and did not complain about falling 40 feet down a lift shaft when she went to visit her chiropodist on Bond Street. By Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images. Dozens of cuttings in the Daily Mail archives describe her appearance at every ball her dresses, her jewellery, the young men jostling around her. The porcelain-skinned Margaret, with her bewitching green eyes, was considered a great beauty. Image Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo. Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll is a fascinating and infuriating subject, for history has not been kind to her. Undiluted heaven. Margaret, meanwhile, allegedly attempted to forge letters claiming that Ians sons were illegitimate to discredit their rights of succession and likely so shed be entitled to Inveraray. Margaret Argyll, the only child of a self-made Scottish millionaire, was a society beauty who her husband alleged had slept with 88 men, including two cabinet ministers and three royals. She was presented as a debutante in 1930, and after early romances with Prince Aly Khan, aviator Glen Kidston, Baron Martin Stillman von Brabus and publishing heir Max Aitken (later the second Lord Beaverbrook) and Prince George, Duke of Kent, she became engaged to Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick. Wheatley is a Puritan, Phelps explains. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. "I fell forty feet to the bottom of the lift shaft", she later recalled. Though she did once say "the only Polaroid camera in the country" was kept at the Ministry of Defence. . [24] She was buried alongside her first husband, Charles Sweeny, who had died only four months earlier, in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey. The first episode of A Very British Scandal took viewers by surprise as they watched The Crown's Claire Foy enjoy three sex scenes in the first 30 minutes of the first episode - with two different men. But if there was one thing Margaret learned over the decades and her various scandals, it was that she could not and would not ever change. [5] Such had been the publicity surrounding her Norman Hartnell wedding dress that the traffic in Knightsbridge was blocked for three hours. Her pleasures are vapid, her friends are sarcastic. It is 1920s slang, for a woman who topples on to her back at the slightest touch. That word round-heel sums up the pious hypocrisy of the era. From her greed is good heyday to her post-divorce denouement cavorting with a series of freaky Italian lovers, it was Ivana, all along, who gilded the Trump name. As indisputable proof of the duchesss misadventure, however, the Polaroids were the clincher. When A Very British Scandal premiereswith Claire Foy playing the fabulous socialite, and Paul Bettany playing Ian Campbellit will likely be the first time that modern American audiences learn of the ill-fated socialite. Margaret did have bursts of romantic happiness but, for one reason after another, none was lasting and successful. Fighting in the Fog: Who Won the Battle of Barnet? Her extravagant lifestyle and ill-considered investments left her largely penniless by the time she died. She struck a lonely figure many times during the first hour, whether trying to entertain her step-children or plunging into a one-night stand after a party, but she never looked more alone than when the public turned on her. He was a bad man before he went in,says Phelps. But the story is too good for me to tell it all to you you must watch the biopic. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. By [11], Within a few years, the marriage was falling apart. 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