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. Her first husband concurred that she was never the same after this fall. Rather than clarifying the relationships, which would have outed her friends, Margaret refused to comment. 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. 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. Now there may be a showdown brewing over billions of dollars in kids fare. He was a bad man before he went in,says Phelps. But in the days when society scandals were few and far between, this one was the ne plus ultra. [22] In 1990, unable to pay the hotel bills, she was evicted and, with the support of friends and her first husband, moved into an apartment. In those days, society men did not take personalities into consideration when choosing a wife. On 22 March 1951, Margaret became the third wife of Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. For years after the scandal, she retained her beauty and some social cachet, but her fortune dwindled. [24] She was buried alongside her first husband, Charles Sweeny, who had died only four months earlier, in Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey. Looks and charm and money, of course were the main things, alongside social rank. Following the scandal, he offered to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was declined. Buy now for 16.99 at books.telegraph.co.uk or call 0844 . 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. Who was Margaret the Duchess of Argyll? She was thought to be the inspiration for Cole Porters 1934 song Youre the Top. . He first met Margaret by chance rather than design, sitting opposite her on the Golden Arrow train from Paris to London. But shes iconic, says Phelps, who is thrilled that U.S. viewers will learn of this unconventional woman when A Very British Scandal premieres. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. Campbell is on the make and Margaret is blind to it even when she is writing cheques to his creditors. Even her mother (Phoebe Nicholls) has nothing but contempt for her: My daughter, an adulteress, a round-heel the squalor of it.. Her husband accused her of having dozens of lovers: He estimated the total at 88. After tying the knot the couple lived in luxury, skiing in St Moritz, sailing in the Bahamas and holidaying in St Tropez. After that, life must have been hard, so very unglamorous and undeferential, and eventually she was reduced to one butler and one maid. He claimed she had taken on an amazing 88 lovers, including cabinet ministers, Hollywood stars and royals, during their marriage. She wrote later in life: I had wealth, I had good looks. But then ensued the reality of high life being sometimes incompatible with real life. 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. ", 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. 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. George Hay Whigham was a self-made millionaire: although his family was well-connected, they were not wealthy. Paul Bettany and Claire Foy as Ian and Margaret while filming at the actual Inveraray Castle. I had money. Everyone can make you try to not feel that way but it's unfortunately the reality.'. As indisputable proof of the duchesss misadventure, however, the Polaroids were the clincher. [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. Foy plays her in later life, both glamorous and sordid, in A Very British Scandal (BBC1). 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. The judge did not release compromising images of her but did describe them in clear detail. 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. In 1943, she suffered a catastrophic fall that left her with 30 stitches and a broken vertebra, temporarily unable to walk. 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. Later, the Duke of Argyll claimed that the blow to Margarets head had made her become a nymphomaniac. Undiluted heaven. User @strutcakes said: 'Watching A Very British Scandal in front of my parents was not the best idea. 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With Ian broke and unpredictable, her focus shifted to restoring her husbands decrepit castle, likely believing it to be an investment in their future. Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll is a fascinating and infuriating subject, for history has not been kind to her. 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 financial circumstances of this one-time society darling were now much reduced; she had moved into an apartment in Grosvenor House from where, every night, she would still set out to West End parties to gallery openings, book launches and celebratory dinners. 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. The third comes very shortly after, at 29 minutes, just before Margaret takes Ian to meet her father for his approval of their marriage. Many have retrospectively described her as the first woman to be publicly slut-shamed, and whilst the term is somewhat anachronistic, it was certainly one of the first times a womans sexuality was quite so publicly, roundly and explicitly condemned. She went on to have four failed engagements before a failed marriage to Charles Sweeny, an Irish-American stockbroker. Second World War veteran or not, he is without any redeeming grace or even charm. 25 Feb/23. Nonetheless, after the divorce, that was all anyone ever talked about in connection with Margaret. 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. Fashion designers and socialites clamoured around the duchess. She continued giving the occasional TV interview, usually with one of her many beloved poodles in tow. He is still married, yet he has no qualms about asking her father (Richard McCabe) for her hand and a loan. Born Margaret Whigham, the future Duchess of Argyll was the only daughter of a Scottish materials millionaire. 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. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. "The only thing that saved me was the lift cable, which broke my fall. Margaret Argyll never learnt to boil a kettle and never once made her own bed. 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. 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. Crypto The lyrics were later anglicised for the British version of the song by P. G. Wodehouse, who changed two lines from "You're an O'Neill drama / You're Whistler's mama!" The first time we glimpse Claire Foy as the forlornly imperious Duchess of Argyll, she is a prisoner in the back of her own limousine, surrounded by a public that hates her. It was supposed to be a divorce hearing. Society ached to know his identity, and the duke was even required to pose naked to prove the torso wasnt his. Bogus deeds of gift not worth the paper they were written on. [23], Margaret's children later placed her in a nursing home in Pimlico, London. Getty Images. Inside the Succession Drama at Scholastic, Where. No doubt the television series can tell you the terrible consequences of that marriage. The marriages meltdown was such a scorched-earth operation that Phelps says it could have easily carried an entire season of American Crime Story. 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. It was like Princess Diana, Kim Kardashianthis globally famous beauty.. Featherbrained. 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. What Was the Sudeten Crisis and Why Was it So Important? [1] Before these pregnancies, she suffered eight miscarriages. [9][10], According to Lyndsy Spence, a biographer of the Duchess, the Duke of Argyll forged a deed of sale (sometimes called a deed of gift, thus offering various items from Inveraray Castle as security) before their marriage in exchange for her money used to restore his family home at Inveraray, and wiretapped her car. Everywhere she turns, she just comes straight up against the thing of like, you have no recourse.. 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.. In several photos, Margaret was wearing only a string of her trademark pearls. I dont think anybody has had such a good time as I had. She took pity on him and convinced her father to give him 100,000 to restore his family seat in Scotland, Inveraray Castle. They did not. At the time of their first meeting, the Duke was still married to Louise Timpson. Her romances were legend. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll's infamous 1963 divorce captured the public's attention with its twists and scandalous revelations. 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. 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.. Everybody knows what the photograph depicts. 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. Duchess of Argyll's explicit headless man photo re-enactment. Everyone's got old and fat." 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 lost her home and, although eventually reconciled with Frances, her children put her in a nursing home in London, where she died penniless in 1993. Together they are absolutely the essential things in life.) She was also game to offer a hot-take dripping in condescension. I had become a duchess and mistress of a historic castle. In 1930, as 17-year-old debutante Margaret Whigham entering London society, she was regarded as the most beautiful woman in England. The only women who had glamorous lives were film stars, princesses or members of the aristocracy. Everyone knows her as Oui Oui, because she agrees to everything though Margaret childishly calls her Wee Wee. The photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the 'headless man' Polaroid. You do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. Margaret wearing a pink ball gown in 1938. 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. The type, to be harsh, is familiar today. That, and three strands of pearls!" Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, and Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, after their 1951 wedding at Caxton Hall in London. 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.. [5] Such had been the publicity surrounding her Norman Hartnell wedding dress that the traffic in Knightsbridge was blocked for three hours. Bogus pregnancies and bloodline discrediting in the days before DNA testing could prove the cases either way. ', Louise Teboul similarly said: 'Watching A Very British Scandal with my mother-in-law and OH [other half] - didn't realise there was going to be so much sex in it - awkward. 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