But as soon as they were over their shock, Margarets parents knew exactly what they had to do. In one infamous exchange, a partygoer of Margarets once picked up a cushion and said gleefully, What a fun party, Margaret, lets swap gossip. Thus, the controversial Polaroid was unearthed, alongside another one with her standing naked (bar the pearl necklace) next to a man: In the court proceedings, Duncan Sandys, then Secretary of State for the Colonies and Winston Churchills son-in-law, was named as the man receiving oral sex, while film star Douglas Fairbanks Jr was named as the other man. More than that, Margaret was having further difficulty giving him a child, which didnt help matters. A Great British Scandal: The London Of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of It was a (failed) ploy to safeguard her own powerbut if you think that Margaret stopped there, youre extremely wrong. So when the press got wind of the truly sordid details of the case, all bets were off. had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities. The Duchess of Argyll's story may have happened in 1963, but is more relevant than ever. For the beautiful daughter of a millionaire, it spelled instant infamy and would likely damage her reputation forever if it got out to her peers. In the photographs, the Duchess of Argyll was very much not alone. Claire Foy's A Very British Scandal: Who was the infamous 'Dirty Duchess'? 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. Sex, lies and Polaroids: the case of the Duchess of Argyll, at the 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. Is the government still hiding the truth about Britain's 'Dirty Duchess By the time Margaret was 15 years old, she was an undeniable stunner. a self-confessed wolf. Fairbanks Jr and Margaret both denied he was the Headless Man, but he was identified through his handwriting. He has been granted day-release. 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. Clearly, her second marriage was in deep troublebut no one had any idea what was really around the corner. Somehow, Margaret simply couldnt make her bank account match her extravagant tastes, and she eventually had to move out of her notorious home, swapping it first for the Grosvenor House Hotel and then, at the urging of her children and her first husband Charles Sweeny, a meager apartment building. The Dirty Duchess of Argyll was ahead of her time The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? She was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful young women in the UK at the time, and her sexual adventures became the stuff of great gossip. The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity. Over the four years that Margaret and her duke were facing off against each other in court, the press speculated wildly about all of Margarets sins, dubbing her The Dirty Duchess. When it comes to British scandals, theres no better place to start than the Dirty Duchess, Margaret Campbell. While we may never know who the 'headless' man was, A Very British Scandal aims to look at the story behind one of the biggest court cases in history, and the lives of the people involved. Then again, right around this time, Margaret went off the deep end herself. Campbell's ex-husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll, played in the film by Paul Bettany, asserted in their very public 1960's divorce proceedings that she had slept with 80 men during their . American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. I let my sugar babies go through my dead wife's wardrobe - they love it and I find the experience 'therapeutic'. Still, it took a dark turn. She claimed he had slept with her own stepmother, Jane Corby Whigham. 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. 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. As Margaret later related, I apparently fell on to my knees and cracked the back of my head against the wall. With their parents and chaperones otherwise occupied with their own vacation, the teenagers managed to find ample time to, er, explore their personal landscapes. The True Story Behind A Very British Scandal - Yahoo! And when she did finally become pregnant for more than a handful of months, it somehow got worse. 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. Mid-way through the After Dark broadcast, Margaret had to bail out of her commitment and walk off stage because, as she claimed, she was so very sleepy. Both denied it, and the Duchess, who died penniless in 1993, never made their identity public. For Margarets secrets, it was the apocalypse. In 1947, just a bare four years after her traumatic accident, Sweeny and Margaret filed for divorce. And although her face was usually obscured, the duke could recognize her by one tell-tale sign: Her favorite necklace made up of three strings of pearls. One of the images featured his wife naked but for a string of pearls, performing . For further updates, please refresh the page, Britain's most expensive house goes up for sale at jaw-dropping price, The gorgeous Georgian mansion - named The Holme - boasts 40-bedrooms, a tennis court, a library and a sauna. The most ruinous aspect of these photos wasnt Margarets undressed state. 'The Dirty Duchess'. Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter. A photo of a 'headless' man was one of the key pieces of evidence used in the divorce case of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, which is due to be dramatised in the new BBC mini series A Very British Scandal. The true story of the Duchess of Argyll, the 'dirty duchess' at the Strapped for cash, she wrote a memoir, Forget Notbut people considered it embarrassing and too full of name-drops. An inquiry has confirmed screen idol Douglas Fairbanks Jnr was the man seen with the duchess in an infamous series of four, sexually-explicit photos. His next idea would be the couples downfall. Although Prince Aly Khan loved to shower Margaret with affection and gifts, it was Kidston who really took her fancyeven though it was Kidston who was most dangerous of all. A Very British Scandal stars The Crown's Claire Foy - Woman and Home He was a notorious drinker and gambler, and was hooked on prescription medications to boot. Margaret's rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings. Both of them, though, show her wearing her iconic three-string pearls, jewellery that she had inherited from her grandmother. While granting the divorce, the judge said of Margaret that she 'was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men. In it, among other things, was a set of extremely damning and risqu polaroid photographs. 1928 was a terrifying time to be an unwed mother, so Margaret took drastic action. Comply with the table below to know Chuadanga to Khulna train ticket price for all classes. Another, racier Polaroid, showing the Duchess pleasuring a man, was also produced. A series of Polaroid photographs were used as evidence in the bitter and acrimonious divorce case between the Duke and Duchess . and Polaroid snaps showing Her Grace, clad only in a string of pearls . Among her conquests was a broken engagement with the Texan banker Joseph Thomas as well as a dalliance with the curator for the Met, Theodore Rousseau. Yet there was a far more likely culprit. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man' and his identity has been largely speculated. The duchess, he declared, was "a highly sexed woman who ha. Her last shred of dignity went soon after. Ian Duncan Campbell, the dashing Scottish peer known as the Duke of Argyll, sure fit the part: With a forbidding face and a brusque manner, Campbell seemed every bit a Byronic hero, and Margaret fell head over heels. 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. Chuadanga had a literacy rate of 45.91% for the population 7 years and above: 46.88% for males and 44.93% for females. In 1963, a judge dissolved the marriage of the aristocratic Duke and Duchess of Argyll, condemning the latter as a promiscuous woman with a "debased sexual appetite." . "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. Some of the people she was accused of sleeping with were actually closeted gay men, yet if Margaret denied any of them as her lovers on those grounds, their (at the time criminal) secret would get out. 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It was so secret that Margaret completely omitted this episode from her memoirs. More than that, all of his wives claimed he had mistreated them during their marriage. Upon finding this evidence, the Duke of Argyll turned right around and started divorce proceedings against Margaret. On brand for a high-class woman, and Margaret even quipped she was there to, "put the point of view of the horse". The Duke and Duchess of Argyll's infamous 1963 divorce captured the public's attention with its twists and scandalous revelations. The Duke of Argyll had always been suspicious that his wife had a roaming eyespoiler: he wasnt wrongbut hed never quite been able to prove it. . To describe this series of Polaroids in any way decent enough to publish is a Herculean effort. The judge also called her a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men. One day, Margaret must have been feeling particularly insecure about her fertility issues. During one of her absences, the Duke broke into a locked cupboard and found her collection of pornographic photographs. Her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would call enlightened but which in plain language was wholly immoral.'. Soon after disentangling herself from these lovers, Margaret met the man who would ruin her life. With this disappointment in her wake, Margaret turned to a desperate ploy. The situation scandalised conservative British society, and the so-called Dirty Duchess never fully restored her reputation after being branded a nymphomaniac by the Duke. He also produced 13 Polaroid pictures he had found which showed the duchess and two naked men in her bathroom. Famed for her charisma, beauty and style, the Duchess began spending time in London and New York without her husband and entertaining men including comedian Bob Hope and French singer Maurice Chevalier. After all, some of the photographs depicted intensely intimate positions, with Margaret completely undressed. The creators of the documentary claimed Sandys' identity was "conclusively proved" by the duchess's claim that the only Polaroid camera in England at the time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence. 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 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. . The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity. It was the perfect recipe for disaster. 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. 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. There was also a polaroid of a man pleasuring himself, again headless. Even her friends thought she completely lacked a sense of humor, and she called herself a bird brain. 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. While in the nursing home bathroom one day, Margaret had a severe fall that broke her neck. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. The photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the 'headless man' Polaroid. Unfortunately for the Duchess of Argyll, Britain at the time was nowhere near progressive, and shed landed a particularly conservative judge in Lord Wheatley, who presided over the case. dirty celebrity royals You probably know all about the Duchess of Argyll, but I didn't. . There's a new period drama in theatres now, offering a w [imagesource:flickr] 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. Until, that is, it blew up in her face. As someone who self-identified as always vain, Margaret always cared much more about her beauty than anything else. But there will be no press release or big [imagesource: Bleecker Street] She passed on July 25, 1993. 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. Cracks in this life of leisure, however, quickly began to appear. . Margaret had only grown more beautiful as the years passed, and when she made her debut she was almost too gorgeous to look at. Claire Foy recreates Duchess of Argyll's explicit 'headless man' photo Obviously, Margaret had to choose just one manbut she threw a cruel curveball at her lovers. The new drama, starring Claire Foy and Paul Bettany as the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, looks at their relationship and high profile divorce, which accused Duchess of Argyll Margaret Campbell of having affairs with over 80 men. The promised sight of Margaret in her Norman Hartnell wedding dress gummed up traffic in the surrounding area of Knightsbridge for three hours. One of the men accused of being one of Margaret's lovers, and named on a list that the Duke of Argyll produced in court, was the Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbank Jr. View our online Press Pack. In 1930, her parents presented her at court as a debutante, which was basically their way of saying she was ready to mingle with men and get married. For what its worth, yes, Margaret was very aware of the homage to her and mentioned it in her memoirs. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Was the 'Dirty Duchess' of Argyll the first victim of revenge porn? Instead, she ran right towards him and her doom. This laser focus on how she looked and not how she acted got her into big trouble. But according to Sweeny, the woman who returned was not the wife he had known before. New BBC mini series A Very British Scandal stars The Crown's Claire Foy and Marvel actor Paul Bettany as Margaret and Ian Campbell, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, Sign up for the Daily Star TV newsletter for the biggest TV news. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. Although the identity of the 'headless man' may never be confirmed, a 2000 Channel 4 documentary revealed that two men are the most likely candidates. Margaret's rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings. Ian owed a lot of money due to his own gambling addiction and he calculated that Margaret's father might help him out financially. & the free hacks that clean just as good, Mystic Meg zodiac signs latest: Riches in store for Capricorn & major changes await Gemini; plus weekly horoscopes, Im a psychologist - what your slippers really say about you and how I can tell if your personality type in seconds, Mrs Hinch cleaning fan reveals the 10p hack to banish stubborn limescale with NO scrubbing involved, I got dress-coded at work for not wearing a bra I confronted my boss and was left stunned by the response, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Sam Rollinson Plays the 'Scandalous' Duchess of Argyll in Tatler Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. Written by Sarah Phelps (The Pale Horse; Dublin Murders), A Very British Scandal focuses on the divorce of the Duke (Paul Bettany) and Duchess of Argyll (Claire Foy), one of the most notorious .