Her second husband - and the subject of the BBC's A Very British Scandal - was Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. Dubbed the divorce of the century, the subsequent swirl of rumours, gossip, scandal and sex captivated the nation. The house was always packed with the most amusing people, sometimes 18 to dinner with another 10 joining afterwards, she told her biographer. Fighting in the Fog: Who Won the Battle of Barnet? 12:44 GMT 27 Dec 2021 Everybody knows what the photograph depicts. 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The Father of History: Who Was Herodotus. It took four years after he filed for divorce for a verdict to be reached, which granted it to the duke on the grounds of Margarets adultery. That, and three strands of pearls!" to "You're Mussolini / You're Mrs Sweeny". Neither the good years, in which I laughed and danced and lived upon a cloud of happiness; nor the bad years of near despair, when I learned what life and people and friendship really were.. After the case Margaret fell out with her daughter Frances, who had not wanted her to oppose the divorce, and thanks to her extravagant lifestyle and some bad investments her fortune diminished. She was just 15 when the future movie star David Niven, two years her senior, got her pregnant while holidaying on the Isle of Wight, after which her father sent her to a London nursing home for a secret termination. [3], In 1930 Margaret was presented at Court in London and was known as the debutante of that year. It seems Margarets nouveau riche status had always bothered Londons old-money scene, even as Margarets parents spent plenty of cash funding her societal risepaying over 40,000 pounds for her coming-out party. She was not born into the aristocracy, but she was the only child of one of the richest men of his day, George Whigham. With irrefutable evidence, Argyll was granted his divorce. And then I heard that a television biopic, A Very British Scandal, was being made about her by the team behind A Very English Scandal, the series about Jeremy Thorpe. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll's infamous 1963 divorce captured the public's attention with its twists and scandalous revelations. He was a fucking shocker when he came out.. Rather than clarifying the relationships, which would have outed her friends, Margaret refused to comment. Margaret Whigham was a sensation to British society when she arrived from America as a teenager in the 1920s. [1] Birth and youth [ edit] What Was the Sudeten Crisis and Why Was it So Important? It was evident from the beginning that the . Lord Dennings report has been sealed until 2063: it was reviewed after 30 years by the then Prime Minister, John Major, who decided to keep the testimonies firmly sealed for a further 70 years. Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, at an event with her friend, Lady Edith Foxwell, in 1959. The first episode took place just 16 minutes into the first episode, between Margaret and an unnamed stranger she meets at a fun-filled dinner party. Viewers could have expected a fair few sex scenes in the series, after Foy said ahead of its launch that she finds filming them unpleasant, and that they make her feel 'exposed' and 'exploited'. But in the days when society scandals were few and far between, this one was the ne plus ultra. [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. No doubt the television series can tell you the terrible consequences of that marriage. The Duchess died in penury in 1993 after a bad fall in the nursing home. Now there may be a showdown brewing over billions of dollars in kids fare. The movie star was named as Margarets lover, one of the 88 men on the list that the Duke produced in court. She was targeted by an impoverished duke who had inherited the dukedom of Argyll faute de mieux (he was the first cousin once removed of the 10th duke) and a castle in ruins the Gothic revival Inveraray. Its a pity the drama does not have time to explain the years of fame that came before her disgrace, and which shaped her. As a young woman I had been constantly photographed, written about, flattered, admired, included in the Ten Best-Dressed Women in the World list, and mentioned by Cole Porter in the words of his hit song "You're the Top". Undiluted heaven. Her story will be the subject of Season 2 of "A Very English Scandal," which. The duchess and her daughter, Frances Sweeny, 1955. When I revisited her story I realised how much social history I had missed out on by steering a wide berth when I encountered Marg Arg at parties. 'It's grim - it's the grimmest thing you can do. 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. The headless man was never formally identified, although a shortlist included the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Churchills son-in-law and government minister, Duncan Sandys. Her funeral, a requiem mass, was held at Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in Mayfair. Foy plays her in later life, both glamorous and sordid, in A Very British Scandal (BBC1). You do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. "I fell forty feet to the bottom of the lift shaft", she later recalled. 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. And I have given up hopes of any improvement., Says Phelps, Shes sort of brilliant and tragic in a way, but also triumphant. And yet the technicalities of the prehistoric legal system at that time (and the fact that many of her 'lovers' were gay) prevented the duchess from giving her side of the story without risking imprisonment. In an age where aristocratic women were primarily simply required to be beautiful and wealthy, Margaret found herself with no shortage of suitors and was named debutante of the year in 1930. matlab app designer popup message female comedians of the 90s kalena ku delima polaroid the headless man picture duchess. It was speculated that this "headless man" was the Minister of Defence Duncan Sandys (later Lord Duncan-Sandys, son-in-law of Winston Churchill), who offered to resign from the cabinet. She was bad and childish in the way she tried to demonise others to get her own way but she holds an important place in social history. Inveraray Castle, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Argyll, photographed in 2010. Married in 1951, Margaret was at the height of her fame as a glamorous and stylish socialite, and had even been name-dropped in Cole Porter's song, You're the Top. 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. Sample Page; ; Margaret was identifiable by the diamond clasps of her trademark three-strand pearls and distinctive hairstyle. Getty Images. [25], Margaret had asked Charles Castle in 1974 to write her biography, but reneged. Sex, secrets and suspicion the true story of a duchess publicly shamed in a high society divorce that gripped the nation. She tried the Law Lords, [which] decided that Ian is perfectly within his right to use as evidence against his wife material that he burgled from her house. 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. As Phelps says, She was on trial for being a sexual woman. A Jesuit-educated judge named Lord Wheatley, who was related to Ian, presided, putting Margaret further under the microscope. The first episode of the three-part series, which aired last night, showed Margaret (Foy) seducing a man at a dinner party before romping with her on-screen husband at his Scottish stately home and in a cleaning cupboard at her parents' property. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, and Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, after their 1951 wedding at Caxton Hall in London. The target of an impoverished duke, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll loved the company of men. They featured Margaret the Duchess, a former debutante of the year, in her Art Deco-style bathroom at her Upper Grosvenor Street home dressed in nothing but her signature three-strand pearl necklace. And the first woman to be a megastar to find the public turning against her. The presiding judge, in his 50,000-word judgement, described Margaret as a completely promiscuous woman' who was wholly immoral because she engaged in disgusting sexual activities. 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. [She was evicted from a hotel]. [16], A list of as many as 88 men with whom the Duke believed his wife had consorted was produced. During her marriage to Sweeney, she had three children, one who was a stillborn girl, as well as a son Brian and a daughter Frances (who went on to marry the Duke of Rutland), and she also suffered eight miscarriages. The third comes very shortly after, at 29 minutes, just before Margaret takes Ian to meet her father for his approval of their marriage. And thank God Ive had it., George Whigham made sure Margaret had a different couture dress for each event and was so tireless in promoting his daughter that he was accused of hiring press agents. You would go and stand outside the churches where such women were getting married, just to be a part of the huge excitement and touch the hem of history.. Bettany plays the duke with an absolute absence of sympathy. 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 sheer scandal of photographic evidence of Margarets blatant infidelity she was identifiable by her signature three-strand pearl necklace was shocking to a world which, in 1963, was on the cusp of a sexual revolution. [1] Before these pregnancies, she suffered eight miscarriages. Sat 18 Dec 2021 02.00 EST. Argyll decided he wanted to divorce Margaret, accusing her of infidelity and providing photographic evidence, in the form of Polaroids, of her engaged in sexual acts with a series of anonymous, headless men, which he had stolen from a locked bureau in their house in Mayfair, London. 16:57 GMT 27 Dec 2021. The pictures had been discovered by her husband, who allegedly hired a locksmith to gain access to his wife's private papers. 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. Hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and subscriber rewards. A Channel 4documentary in 2000 claimed that the Headless Man was in fact two different men Sandys and Fairbanks Jr but it seems this may be one secret Margaret carried with her to her grave. Not a serious thought in my head. Following the scandal, he offered to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was declined. Bogus pregnancies and bloodline discrediting in the days before DNA testing could prove the cases either way. Margaret had eight miscarriages and a stillborn child before managing to produce two children: one became the Duchess of Rutland and mother to the current duke, the other a sensible businessman. Wedding to American golfer Charles Sweeny in 1933, Being Presented at the third court of the season in 1934, Recuperating in Hove following a fall down a lift shaft in 1934, Marrying the Duke of Argyll at Caxton Hall in 1951, With Frances at a Lancaster House Party in 1955, With Frances at Queen Charlotte's Ball at The Grosvenor House in 1955, With the Duke of Argyll leaving the pier at Tobermory in 1956, With Frances at Beirut's St George's Hotel in 1958, Outside the law courts in the Strand before being sued for slander and libel by her former social secretary Yvonne MacPherson in 1960, With the Duke of Argyll at the family seat, Inveraray Castle, in 1960, At the premiere of Kings Of Kings in 1961, At Zia Foxwell and David Kruger's wedding in 1969, With her poodle Louis at her Mayfair apartment in 1985, At the opening night of Chess The Musical in 1986, At the Hairdresser of the Year party in 1986, At her Grosvenor House apartment with Louis in 1989, The society beauty found herself at the centre of a toxic divorce case in 1963, after it emerged that both she and her husband had conducted multiple extra-marital affairs. The mystery was only recently put to bed by Lady Colin Campbell, who disclosed in 2013 that the man was the American executive Bill Lyons. Margaret would realize her new husband, who was said to be a gambling and alcohol addict, was broke. He was American airline executive William "Bill" Lyons, according to Duchess Margaret Campbell's ex-daughter-in-law. Her debutante years are 20 years behind her and belong to a different, pre-war world. One of the . History Hit brings you the stories that shaped the world through our award winning podcast network and an online history channel. Debutantes were not expected to discuss the great issues of the day but merely to issue pleasant tinkling laughs while the man spoke. This is a morality tale. How King Charles and Prince William Plan to Protect the Monarchy Against an Uncertain Future, The daughter of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani was overwhelmed as a child by a wave of tragedy and looked for a gasp of air to breathe, even as sharks circled all around. Now, she tells, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 2. [2], In 1928 the future actor David Niven, then 18, had sex with 15-year-old Margaret during a holiday at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. GameStop Moderna Pfizer Johnson & Johnson AstraZeneca Walgreens Best Buy Novavax SpaceX Tesla. In 1943, she fell nearly 40ft down a lift shaft, surviving but with a significant trauma to her head: many say the fall altered her personality, and that she was a different woman afterwards. As a divorce, she threw lavish parties whose success she attributed to the fact that she only invited beautiful women because she thought it restful for men to rest their gaze on them. 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. Famed for her beauty, Margaret moved through the. Margaret with her first husband, Charles Sweeny, on their wedding day at Brompton Oratory, 1933. [2], The Sweenys divorced in 1947. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. (One series) Second World War veteran or not, he is without any redeeming grace or even charm. I had this house [on Upper Grosvenor Street]. Her beauty was much spoken of, and she had youthful romances with Prince Aly Khan, millionaire aviator Glen Kidston and publishing heir Max Aitken, later the second Lord Beaverbrook. She also had a serious romantic relationship with Theodore Rousseau, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who was, she recalled, "highly intelligent, witty and self-confident to the point of arrogance". Blissful. 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. She is best remembered as a nymphomaniac socialite who disgraced the House of Argyll when a collection of diaries and explicit Polaroids were stolen by her husband, Ian Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, to be used as . For years after the scandal, she retained her beauty and some social cachet, but her fortune dwindled. [8], The Duchess never revealed the identity of the "headless man", and Fairbanks always denied the allegation. Like everybody, Id do anything to have it all over again. After a teen dalliance with actor David Niven, she dated Pakistani diplomat Aly Khan, millionaire aviator Glen Kidston, publishing heir Max Aitken, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, before settling down for the first of two marriages. It was like Princess Diana, Kim Kardashianthis globally famous beauty.. Fashion designers and socialites clamoured around the duchess. The man is summed up when we see him at his hobby, collecting butterflies and mounting them on a board with a pin through the thorax. Perhaps it is not surprising that, as an adult, the only way she knew how to express affection was through sex. Although the couple's personal relationship had ended long before the divorce, The Duke of Argyll was furious at the numerous affairs Margaret had during their marriage. Her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would call enlightened but which in plain language was wholly immoral.'. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. "For 50 years it has been safely, maybe too safely, kept . You feel exposed.. On 22 March 1951, Margaret became the third wife of Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. [27] It was reprinted in 1995 by Pan Books, and in 2021, to coincide with the TV series A Very British Scandal, by Swift Press. The number allegedly included cabinet members, Hollywood actors, and members of the royal family. But the duke soon showed his true colours, with rumours of gambling and drug and alcohol addiction, as well as a vile temper. Margaret's rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings. Twitter users commented on how awkward it was to watch the three sex scenes in the presence of older family members. He filed for divorce. He claimed she had taken on an amazing 88 lovers, including cabinet ministers, Hollywood stars and royals, during their marriage. Margaret even wrote a gossip column for Tatler, which was not all that informative as her memory was failing and she seemed incapable of spelling names correctly. Margaret went through a whirlwind of suitors. At the time of their first meeting, the Duke was still married to Louise Timpson. 12 years later, the duke sued for divorce, accusing Margaret of infidelity and producing evidence, in the form of Polaroid photographs of Margaret engaged in sexual acts, to prove it. [10], Granting the divorce, Lord Wheatley, the presiding judge, said the evidence established that the Duchess "was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men". [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. In some, she was entertaining an unidentified lover whose head had been cropped out of the picture and who came to be known as the 'Headless Man'. Nobody, nobody, nobody. In those days, society men did not take personalities into consideration when choosing a wife. After tying the knot the couple lived in luxury, skiing in St Moritz, sailing in the Bahamas and holidaying in St Tropez. During her divorce from the duke, she became the most despised woman in Britain, denounced in the courts and from every pulpit as an adulteress. Lauren Pazienza, Whose Shove Allegedly Killed a Beloved Manhattan Vocal Coach, Argues She Is Getting a Raw Deal. Home. ", Harry and Meghan evicted from Frogmore Cottage by King Charles after Spare memoir, Im a 32F I have secret boobs and my proof made skeptics feel stupid, Im a size 12 model whos 510 Im determined to keep natural curves in style, Im a hot country girl - people love me in my glam western dress, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, The Duke and Duchess of Argyll at their wedding in 1951. At 15, she became pregnant by David Niven; a termination was arranged and this scandal hushed up. Together they are absolutely the essential things in life.) She was also game to offer a hot-take dripping in condescension. There was no legal recourse. one of the most notorious, extraordinary and brutal legal cases of the 20th century. 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. Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon Brilliant Rivals, Hitler vs Stalin: The Battle for Stalingrad, How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Humanity, Hasdrubal Barca: How Hannibals Fight Against Rome Depended on His Brother, Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage, Bones in the Attic: The Forgotten Fallen of Waterloo, The Rise and Fall of Charles Ponzi: How a Pyramid Scheme Changed the Face of Finance Forever. But by the early 1960s, Margarets fortunes had reversed on an epic scale. Her romances were legend. The Queen epitomises everything selfless, noble and honest about a traditional ruling class. Most famous of said scandals was the infamous divorce case bought by Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. She wrote later in life: I had wealth, I had good looks. She became a life-long patron of the designer, as well as Victor Stiebel and Angle Delanghe. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. Campbell is on the make and Margaret is blind to it even when she is writing cheques to his creditors. [2] Still, she observed in her memoirs, "[W]e continued to see each other constantly."[2]. [26] He then published The Duchess Who Dared The Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll in 1994. Her father, the son of Scottish lawyer and cricketer David Dundas Whigham, was chairman of the Celanese Corporation of Britain and North America. Claire Foy plays Campbell in, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him, The Johnny DeppAmber Heard Defamation Trial: The Makings of a Remarkable Moment in American Celebrity. Though she did once say "the only Polaroid camera in the country" was kept at the Ministry of Defence. [14], The Duchess counter-petitioned the divorce, accusing the Duke of committing adultery with her stepmother, Jane Corby Wigham. As such, Margaret developed a stammer for which she was treated unsuccessfully by Lionel Logue, King George VI's speech therapist. The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. Argyll forged a deed of sale before their marriage to gain him access to some of Margarets money. You dont attack if youre a judge. In 1977, speaking to Melvyn Bragg, she lamented, Ive had the most ghastly publicity in the world. Indeed, in the aftermath of the trial, Margaret was referred to in British papers and tabloids by a series of unbecoming sobriquets, like the Dirty Duchess and the Fellatio Duchess., During this time, Margaret became a grandmother, and [newspapers are reporting about these] Polaroid photographs of her with a mans dick in her mouth, continues Phelps. Thanks @PhelpsieSarah! The sex symbol confessed that "girls thought I was a jokea happy buffoon," before he met his wife. Pay the b-b-bills its what youre for.. 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. Born on 1 December 1912, Margaret Whigham was the only daughter of a Scottish businessman and millionaire, George Hay Whigham and his wife, Helen Mann Hannay. George spent most of it on promoting the social rise of his beloved only child, always operating out of grand and luxurious accommodation on both sides of the Atlantic. Even at 37 seeing sex scenes on TV with them in the room is all kinds of awkward. Thats when I began entertaining. The duke then signed a Deed of Gift offering various items as security for the money, and vowed to marry her when his own divorce had come through. I apparently fell onto my knees and cracked the back of my head against the wall". He is still married, yet he has no qualms about asking her father (Richard McCabe) for her hand and a loan. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. [28], The Duchess once told The New York Times: "I don't think anybody has real style or class any more. Inside, he discovered a cache of evidence of her infidelities, including Polaroid pictures of her with another man. Inside Wealth-Conference Con Man Anthony Ritossas Wild Web of Lies, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwards Daughters Appreciated the Fuck Hut Detail Too. [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. "She. 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. In those days, one episode of adultery was enough to justify a divorce. After interviewing the 5 main suspects several of whom underwent a medical examination to determine whether they matched up to the photographs and Margaret herself, Denning ruled out Duncan Sandys from being the headless man in question. With her fortune diminished, she opened her London house at 48 Upper Grosvenor Street, which had been decorated for her parents in 1935 by Syrie Maugham,[19] for paid tours. . [7], She had three children with Sweeny: a daughter, who was stillborn at eight months in late 1933; another daughter, Frances Helen (born 1937, who married Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland), and a son, Brian Charles (19402021). A selection of short interviews with Margaret Whigham, Duchess of Argyll. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man&# It was like an upmarket version of EastEnders, with everyone, including unfaithful servants, behaving badly: forgeries, poison-pen letters, doubledealing, phone tapping and public humiliations. She died aged 80 in 1993. Margaret did have bursts of romantic happiness but, for one reason after another, none was lasting and successful. The comments below have not been moderated, By He took Margaret, hung a scarlet letter around her neck, and hung her out for the crowds to pick at her. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. 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. Business, Economics, and Finance. All rights reserved. By One compares her to a sex-addicted chimpanzee. The duke began proceedings on grounds of infidelity.