It was so secret that Margaret completely omitted this episode from her memoirs. But another Polaroid picture showed the duchess performing a similar sex act on a . Because Margarets private stash of photos was now public evidence, newspapers of the day got a full view of the single most infamous snap in Margarets collection: One where she was kneeling down in front of a headless man. "Thats interesting in itself as these things that seem so serious at the time, on the front of the newspapers, and no one really remembers it at all," said Claire. Seems pretty conclusive. The Crown star's return to on-screen high society sees her star alongside The Avengers' Paul . On 22 March 1951, Margaret, 38 at the time, married Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. Margarets presence in the photos shocked the dukebut more was on the way. As she put it, All Charlie wanted in a wife was a pretty, brainless doll. Again, fair enough. Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIIIs rejected queenbut few people know her even darker history. There was the duchess, wearing only a string of pearls, pleasuring a standing man while on her knees. Speaking to the Daily Record, author Lyndsy Spence said that she had conducted extensive research into Margaret Campbell's life for her book The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, which included speaking to a relative of the businessman Joe Thomas. The Duchess and a very dirty divorce: The scandalous life of the Duchess of Argyle GRANTING the Duke of Argyll a divorce from his wife Margaret, the judge in the 1963 hearing painted a damning . Historys most fascinating stories and darkest secrets, delivered to your inbox daily. Margaret Campbell (ne Whigham) was born to a Scottish millionaire George Hay Whigham on 1 December 1912 and was enjoyed a privileged upbringing, spending much of . That, and three strands of pearls! Margaret Campbell, the famously beautiful Duchess of Argyll, had been a celebrity - and a source of scandal - from even before her debutante days. All Rights Reserved. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man&# [imagesource:wikicommons] From that point on, nothing would be the same again. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. To him, she was just a bank account. Instead, they humiliated her. "She was incredibly famous," Claire tells . Even her friends thought she completely lacked a sense of humor, and she called herself a bird brain. We want our readers to trust us. The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. Even at this tender age, men went absolutely gaga about her, and Margaret soon learned just how good it felt to soak up their attention. The best revenge might be living well, but that doesn't mean we can always turn the other cheek. The photos were part of a lawsuit filed by the Duke against the duchess as part of a divorce proceedings, and a list of 88 men accused of having sex with her in the backyard. Shameless Facts About Faustina the Younger, The Most Scandalous Roman Empress, Everyone Has A Limit: These Moments Made People Say Enough Is Enough, Plot Twist: These Surprise Endings Made Our Jaws Hit The Floor, The Unforgettable Story Of Wu Zetian, China's Most Ruthless Empress, "The Bride Kissed The Best Man" And Other Real-Life Wedding Disasters, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, died aged 80 in a nursing home in Pimlico, London, just a few days before the Major government decided to keep all the testimonies given to Lord Denning under wraps . In 1947, just a bare four years after her traumatic accident, Sweeny and Margaret filed for divorce. This is Foy as the Duchess, pearls included, of course: Campbells life was always a bit topsy-turvy, long before this sex scandal made her husbandless and penniless. The titillating tale is coming to a small screen near you, as the BBC is making it into a drama series titled A Very British Scandal, following on from A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw: The series focuses on the acrimonious divorce that rocked the aristocracy and delighted the tabloids with its salacious details. Looking back, this may have been the point it all began to unravel. Im a cleaning whizz - three common products you need to ditch to save cash Around this time, Margarets behavior behind the scenes sent tongues wagging. 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. It was a public egg on her face and did nothing to bolster her reliabilitynot to mention she had to pay her stepmother huge damages. But none of her liaisons stuck until she met Ian Douglas Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, who was allegedly bewitched by her and according to some of the harsher critics of their union the money she brought to the marriage. The future Duchess of Argyll was born Ethel Margaret Whigham on December 1, 1912, in Scotland to a millionaire father. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. For what its worth, yes, Margaret was very aware of the homage to her and mentioned it in her memoirs. The most extensive damage, however, was somewhere no one could yet see. Margaret's rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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. At the age of 15, she became pregnant with the actor David Niven's child while on a holiday on the Isle of Wight, but the pregnancy was terminated. The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity. Reportedly, the duchess began taking aim at the dukes sons from his previous marriage, even going so far as to forge letters that claimed the boys were illegitimate. October 25, 2021. Well, guess what? Anyway, she certainly has main character energy, and the BBC drama series is sure to be fascinating. Campbell even had a crumbling abode, Inveraray Castle, to match his moodiness. Within just a few months of marrying the Duke of Argyll, Margaret had already realized shed made a mistake. 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. As someone who self-identified as always vain, Margaret always cared much more about her beauty than anything else. Sony Pictures Entertainment. found Polaroid photos of the duchess performing sex acts on a man whose face wasn't in the frame. Marrying Ian Campbell was like signing a deal with the Devil, and the Duke made sure Margaret knew it before the ink on their marriage contract was even dry. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. It is rumoured that she bedded some of the most powerful men in Britain, including the married Duke of Kent and the film star Cary Grant: During this time, Campbell was courted by American investment bankers and art dealers and memorably wrote that she learnt that it was key to go to bed early and often in a relationship. As a testament to just how popular Margaret was during her day, one version of the Cole Porter song Youre the Top mentions her by nameat least by the name she had in her first marriage. . With this disappointment in her wake, Margaret turned to a desperate ploy. Although Margarets experiences with Niven were her first time with a man, one time in her case was very much enough. 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. Despite the tragedy, Margaret tried againeventually having two more children with Sweeny by 1940but her difficulties left lasting psychological scars. The Golden Globe-winning actress plays Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll, who went through a high-profile, damaging and distressing public divorce. She said: "There have been rumours over the years about who he was. By the early 1990s, Margaret was no longer able to take care of herself, and her children placed her in a nursing home. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Soon after disentangling herself from these lovers, Margaret met the man who would ruin her life. And when she did finally become pregnant for more than a handful of months, it somehow got worse. Margaret seemed poised to take the duke down with her, but on the very day of her hearing about his infidelity, she couldnt find a witness and had to drop her case. "You get to see behind it and ask the questions such as what may actually had gone on at the time and how it affected the individuals.". Yet there was a far more likely culprit. had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities. Now, the story - which involved illicit Polaroid pictures and a maelstrom of headlines - is the inspiration behind the BBC's latest drama series, Joy for Pippa and James Matthews as their seven-month-old daughter is christened at village church, Earl Spencer shares touching childhood photo of his late mother from his personal archives, Prince and Princess of Wales host Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway at Windsor Castle. Claire Foy is transforming into a forgotten British icon in new BBC drama, A Very British Scandal. Who was Margaret the Duchess of Argyll? Cracks in this life of leisure, however, quickly began to appear. It was a (failed) ploy to safeguard her own powerbut if you think that Margaret stopped there, youre extremely wrong. Yet far from empathy, this led her to acts of cruelty; a maid of hers once said she treated her dogs better than she did her staff. While in the nursing home bathroom one day, Margaret had a severe fall that broke her neck. 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In fact, in the summer of 1928, Margaret caught the eye of an older boy: The 18-year-old David Niven, who later became a Hollywood actor. The star of The Crown plays one of Britain's most scandalous aristocrats - Margaret Campbell, the so-called "Dirty Duchess". But it was here that tragedy struck. When the beautiful textile heiress Margaret . BBC's A Very British Scandal writer says 'Dirty Duchess' was 'destroyed by sexual morals' Read More Related Articles. Both of them, though, show her wearing her iconic three-string pearls, jewellery that she had inherited from her grandmother. Yet those were only his picturesque qualities. According to them, the man is almost certainly Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks Jra married man, at the time. Well, karma comes for us all, and it was coming for Margaret. So one day while she was away in New York and he had ample time to sit and get more paranoid, he called up a locksmith and asked him to break into it. She suffered neglect from her mother, as well as a teen pregnancy that could have ruined her long before she became an eligible debutante. 'The Dirty Duchess'. Not that men didnt try: By the end of the season, the court named her their debutante of the year and Margaret had her pick of suitors, any of whom would eat out of the palm of her hand if shed asked.