After all, the Duchess had one enormous skeleton in her closet. The Duchess, born Margaret Whigham, married Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll in 1951, and it was the couple's divorce trial that has gone down in history. In his court papers, Argyll accused Margaret of sleeping with no fewer than 88 men over the course of their marriage. 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. Still, Margaret dove in headfirst anyway, solidifying her reputation as something of a Helen of Troy. To say everyone is no exaggeration, either. According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had the morals of a tomcat. According to them, the man is almost certainly Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks Jra married man, at the time. The Dirty Duchess of Argyll was ahead of her time. Although the former Duchess of Argyll was well into her 70s at this point, and might be excused for an early bedtime, it did point to an overall decline in her health. But behind the scenes, she was already living a horror story. As Margaret later related, I apparently fell on to my knees and cracked the back of my head against the wall. During the divorce process, the Duke produced a Polaroid photograph of the Duchess performing a sexual act on another unidentified man - nicknamed "the headless man" - that he had found . As Margaret recalled, doctors thought she must have grabbed onto the elevator cablethis is what likely saved her lifebecause her fingernails were torn and bloody. While Margaret may have been less than a perfect wife, she later blamed the split on Sweenys controlling nature. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Thing is, that wasnt even the most scandalous part. The pearls provided a dead giveaway that it was indeed the Duchess who was giving oral sex to a faceless man in the controversial Polaroid. It wasnt meant to be; she had a stillborn little girl instead. She was known as the Dirty Duchess after her split from the 11th Duke of Argyll led to a bitter and scandalous divorce. Naomi Gordon. 'The Dirty Duchess'. The star of The Crown plays one of Britain's most scandalous aristocrats - Margaret Campbell, the so-called "Dirty Duchess". Strapped for cash, she wrote a memoir, Forget Notbut people considered it embarrassing and too full of name-drops. Despite the tragedy, Margaret tried againeventually having two more children with Sweeny by 1940but her difficulties left lasting psychological scars. The case soon became a tabloid sensation, with Margaret dubbed the dirty duchess and the identity of the headless man in the Polaroid pictures being widely speculated on (Sir Winston Churchill's son-in-law, Duncan Sandys, was one of them, as it was reported only the Minister of Defence had access to a Polaroid camera). Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. In the late 80s, the Dirty Duchess found a new way to make some quick cash. The centre of the country's first major slut-shaming case, socialite Margaret, Duchess of Argyll . To describe this series of Polaroids in any way decent enough to publish is a Herculean effort. Margaret may have been one of the most beautiful women of her generation, but to the Duke, she was just another wife he could intimidate, push around, and demean. And when it came to Kidston, she was particularly ruthless. Her latest venture 'Notre Date' is inspired by her own lone travels, 'Time traveller from 2858' issues warning about 'how the world will end', A self-professed 'time traveller from the year 2858' has claimed the world will end in 2038 during a war with an alien species that has apparently already invaded Earth, 'I've spent 50k to become a Barbie - surgery nearly killed me but I won't stop', Instagram model Nel Peralta says she's living her 'plastic dream' after spending 50,000 on surgery to 'become a Barbie doll' - and she hasn't stopped yet as she plans more procedures, Notorious killer who bludgeoned woman to death with a hammer is back on the streets, Murderer Craig Belcher is back on the streets after brutally beating Kirsty Carver to death in a harrowing attack at a petrol station in Hull. No clan is left untouched, and even families that seem happy and normal on. After the historic case she never remarried, and lost much of her fortune in later life. Margaret learned the hard way that money cant buy you happinessbut she sure did try. A decline that would end in a shocking incident. The Duchess of Argyll's story may have happened in 1963, but is more relevant than ever. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Im a baby naming pro and these are the top so far for this year - would you add them to your list? [imagesource:wikicommons] But according to Sweeny, the woman who returned was not the wife he had known before. because the Ministry of Defence had the only Polaroid camera in Britain at the time. 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. In 1947, just a bare four years after her traumatic accident, Sweeny and Margaret filed for divorce. 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. Still, that wasnt quite enough for him. She died aged 80 in 1993. 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 . Cracks in this life of leisure, however, quickly began to appear. One rumour suggests it was the former Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys (who later became the son-in-law of Winston Churchill). 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. [1] But as soon as they were over their shock, Margarets parents knew exactly what they had to do. I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. There was the duchess, wearing only a string of pearls, pleasuring a standing man while on her knees. After all, the flyboy was already married and had a young toddler at home. On the surface, it looked like she was on top of the world. For all that her name is synonymous with scandal, Margaret Campbell obsessed over class and often held court about the proper way to display yourself to the world. Margarets dignity took a hit in her later years, but her personality seemed to curdle as well. ", 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. Margaret was utterly devastatedbut she didnt deal with her grief in the best of ways. 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. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. 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. Looking back, this may have been the point it all began to unravel. The Peerage, Pearls, and Polaroids, Oh My! Margaret married Ian Campbell in March of 1951 and became the Duchess of Argyll in the process. They also claimed that Duncan Sandys agreed to resign following the scandal, but that his resignation was refused. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. Thanks for your help! She actually used her upcoming nuptials to cause even more drama. The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity. When the Duke realized what he was looking at, nothing was the same ever again. There was also a polaroid of a man pleasuring himself, again headless. In the spring of 1931, Margarets carefree life came to an abrupt halt. On 22 March 1951, Margaret, 38 at the time, married Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. The photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the 'headless man' Polaroid. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. Margaret Campbells young life more than set her up for her raucous adulthood. Getty Images. Margarets reply was cutting. Phelps hopes her new screen version of the court battle between the 11th Duke of Argyll and his supposedly unstable, "Dirty Duchess" will do something to restore the reputation of his wife, played by Foy. "The Dirty Duchess of Argyll Was ahead of Her Time." Ben Macintyre, The Times, February 2, 2019. Sony Pictures Entertainment. The deb of the season became "the dirty Duchess." This spectacular (and spectacularly sexist) fall from grace is the subject of A Very British Scandal, the upcoming BBC drama starring Claire . 48 Upper Grosvenor Street was once dubbed by John Paul Getty as "Number One, London" and it was the Mayfair house where one of the most celebrated sex scandals of the Sixties took place. He had claimed then that shed had 88 lovers over the course of their marriage, with a judge in the divorce proceedings adding that the Duchess had a sex perversion. 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. Except the way she did it was cringeworthy: Soon, Margaret was giving paid tours of her home at 48 Upper Grosvenor Street, AKA the home where her ex-husband had first found those infamous photographs. BBC One's follow up to the 2018 A Very English Scandal . Even so, it paid off in a big way. Mum in hysterics over Hermes driver's proof of delivery photo & EVERY parent can relate, Im trolled by older women after having a surprise baby at 15 - but I got As at my GCSEs weeks later, Ive no regrets, I told my dad I was moving out so he converted the garage into a stylish mini apartment for me so I wouldnt leave, Youve been cleaning your contact lenses all wrong - the quick trick that will get your lenses clean in seconds. 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. There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets.
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