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. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. After the historic case she never remarried, and lost much of her fortune in later life. Inside the Succession Drama at Scholastic, Where. The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. By Ian Tyas/Keystone Features/Getty Images. Margaret was publicly humiliated as society first fed on, and then utterly condemned, her sexual relationships. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. A series of Polaroid photographs were used as evidence in the bitter and acrimonious divorce case between the Duke and Duchess of Argyll in 1963. [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. It is 1920s slang, for a woman who topples on to her back at the slightest touch. Margaret with her first husband, Charles Sweeny, on their wedding day at Brompton Oratory, 1933. Yes, Margaret was spoilt and accustomed to getting whatever she wanted. You can't help but feel exploited. She was not born into the aristocracy, but she was the only child of one of the richest men of his day, George Whigham. Debutantes were not expected to discuss the great issues of the day but merely to issue pleasant tinkling laughs while the man spoke. (One series) But the story is too good for me to tell it all to you you must watch the biopic. To find evidence of infidelity, he broke into Margaret's personal cupboard in their London house, where he found the infamous Polaroids along with letters and other private documents. Undiluted heaven. 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. But it became a trial, says Phelps. 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. 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. In the aftermath of the scandal, Lord Denning was tasked with investigating whether any breaches of national security had been caused by Profumo's tryst with Keeler. 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. 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. After that, life must have been hard, so very unglamorous and undeferential, and eventually she was reduced to one butler and one maid. When in 1933 Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, posed in her Norman Hartnell wedding dress, she needed a big room - her train and veil covered the entire floor and wisped on . During said courtroom saga, Margaret was asked about the men who appeared in her diarysome of whom were reportedly gay, which at that time was a punishable crime. 'How many men do you have?,' Bettany asks. 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. He filed for divorce. Claire Foy is shockingly good for this role, the heiress without purpose, because we are so used to seeing her as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown. We will send you the latest TV programmes, podcast episodes and articles, as well as exclusive offers from our shop and carefully selected partners. You feel exposed. Margaret Campbell, born in 1912 to a Scottish millionaire, was a British socialite who frequented the 'best dressed' pages of many a magazine and was. She described herself as "always vain". Her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would call enlightened but which in plain language was wholly immoral.'. After completing her education in New York, she moved back to the UK, where her beauty and status as an heiress made her much in-demand on the social scene. Who was Franoise Dior, the Neo-Nazi Heiress and Socialite? Her first husband concurred that she was never the same after this fall. Argyll accused his wife of infidelity with 88 men, compiling a detailed list which included government ministers and members of the royal family. He could have just given the judgment, I find in favor of the plaintiff. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour. It was supposed to be a divorce hearing. A wealthy heiress and one of the most colourful figures of the swinging sixties, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, married the Duke of Argyll, her second husband, in 1951. Margaret was spoilt rotten. As part of proceedings, Lord Denning, who had compiled a government report on one of the decades other scandals, the Profumo Affair, was tasked with investigating Margarets sexual partners in more depth: primarily this was because ministers were concerned Margaret might be a security risk if shehadbeen involved with senior government figures. He claimed she had taken on an amazing 88 lovers, including cabinet ministers, Hollywood stars and royals, during their marriage. Everyone can make you try to not feel that way but it's unfortunately the reality.'. Thanks @PhelpsieSarah! After ending a first marriage that yielded a son and daughter, she went on a dating streak that ended with a marriage to Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyllsecuring her familys formal entry to aristocracy, and access to Inveraray, a proper castle in Scotland. Two big parties for me in three years with over 400 guests on each occasion. 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. 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 . 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. Central to the case was a set of blurry Polaroid snaps taken via the bathroom mirror of the duchess's Mayfair apartment of her wearing nothing but her signature triple string of pearls. [24] She was buried alongside her first husband, Charles Sweeny, who had died only four months earlier, in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey. He has no intention of entirely ditching his American second wife, Louise (Sophia Myles). It shows Margaret arriving atInveraray Castle in Scotland, the home of Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll. [25], Margaret had asked Charles Castle in 1974 to write her biography, but reneged. Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, died on July 25, 1993, and the identity of the "headless man" in the Polaroid continues to be a mystery. The Grit in the Pearl : The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll by Lyndsy Spence published by The History Press Ltd RRP 20. The claim was watertight and Margaret knew she would be unsuccessful but wanted to give her rival a run for the money. Her penury grinds at her, worse and worse and worse., But even in poverty, Margaret refused to change her ways to appeal to the public. I had money. 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. The two began living separately, but the dramatics still escalated. Heres a thought, Margaret, he tells her, mocking her stammer with drunken nastiness. If you know a couple, one of whom is a bore, dont invite either of them, she advised. The young truants, sons of earls and viscounts, used to hide under a rug in the back of his Rolls-Royce until they were off school premises. I do not forget. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Moments after they had sex, he asked Margaret for her hand in marriage. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man' and his identity has been largely speculated. The pictures were part of a legal case the duke drew up against the duchess as part of divorce proceedings, alongside a list of 88 men he accused her of having sex with behind his back. Fighting in the Fog: Who Won the Battle of Barnet? The suspects included Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr and German diplomat Sigismund von Braun, but chief among them was Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence and Winston Churchills son-in-law. Bogus deeds of gift not worth the paper they were written on. The ensuing divorce case was splashed across newspaper front pages. ', Michael Wave, user @SzMarsupial joked: 'Sending thoughts and prayers to everyone else who is now locked into watching a very British scandal with their families, not realising how much sex there would be in it.'. Vile moment baby is given a vape to inhale by her laughing mum - who lashes out on Facebook slamming anyone who Ukraine 'hits major Russian air base in fresh strike' a day after kamikaze drone crashed down just 68 miles from 'I'm glad the contract expired': Heston Blumenthal's fury as Waitrose ends 12-year partnership with him 'after ISIS fanatic jailed over the gruesome beheading of two Scandinavian women hikers in Morocco that shocked the Police will quiz missing aristocrat and her boyfriend for another 36 hours to try and get answers on missing House votes to block 'woke' Biden plan pushing retirement planners to invest in ESG in 401ks. Famed for her charisma, beauty, and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, dominated the front pages, as the divorce exposed accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, bribery, and an explicit Polaroid picture that was to haunt her for the rest of her life. 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. Everyones got old and fat.. Later, the Duke of Argyll claimed that the blow to Margarets head had made her become a nymphomaniac. [2], The Sweenys divorced in 1947. 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. It took the judge more than three hours to read out his damning judgment at the end of one of the longest, most expensive and toxic divorce cases of the 20th century . A wealthy heiress and one of the most colourful figures of the swinging sixties, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, married the Duke of Argyll, her second husband, in 1951. Life was apparently roses all the way. Bettany plays the duke with an absolute absence of sympathy. But who spoilt her? At 15, she became pregnant by David Niven; a termination was arranged and this scandal hushed up. Margaret would realize her new husband, who was said to be a gambling and alcohol addict, was broke. 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. Fulke Warwick and Max Aitken became engaged to her, but she broke off these engagements before marrying Charles Sweeny, a handsome American golfing hero. Following the scandal, he offered to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was declined. 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. 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. 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. Wheatley is a Puritan, Phelps explains. 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. Twitter users commented on how awkward it was to watch the three sex scenes in the presence of older family members. [8], The Duchess never revealed the identity of the "headless man", and Fairbanks always denied the allegation. When the former husband and wife square off in a Virginia courtroom this week, it will mark the culmination of a divorce that has been without comparison in the annals of modern American celebrity. The top was what I was supposed to be. 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. Born Ethel Margaret Whigham in 1912, in Newton Mearns, she was the only child of Helen (nee Hannay), a woman prone to extreme mood-swings, and George Whigham, a self-made millionaire and. Knocked up by David Niven at 15 (he was 18) Ethel Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll went on to a life that seemingly went from one scandal to next. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs. Lizzie May For Mailonline, Usain Bolt admits Prince Harry no longer speaks to him despite 'wanting to keep in contact' because the royal 'got really serious, really quickly' with Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are 'loving life as a family-of-four' but are experiencing the challenge of 'finding that work-life balance', Duchess' makeup artist Daniel Martin claims, John Cleese blasts 'deception, dishonesty and tone' of BBC Asia interview after he was grilled on cancel culture and Dave Chappelle instead of his upcoming shows, Queen CANCELS family pre-Christmas lunch for 50 people at Windsor Castle 'with regret' as a 'precaution' to try to save her loved ones' festive plans. 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. In an age before commercial air travel, life on board ocean liners was a social stratosphere within itself. Usually accompanied by her poodle Alphonse, and a gay male escort, her face was always expressionless, a Canute-like attempt to hold back the onset of wrinkles. Getty Images. Thats when I began entertaining. Who took her seriously at the time? 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. Her photo appears alongside each report. 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. . 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. 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. She was absolutely appalled. 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. That word round-heel sums up the pious hypocrisy of the era. Margarets privacy had been violated and sexual desires condemned because she was a woman. 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. Margaret Argyll never learnt to boil a kettle and never once made her own bed. 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