But the duke soon showed his true colours, with rumours of gambling and drug and alcohol addiction, as well as a vile temper. Imagine the courage that takes., Shes a hot mess. It will be plain to most viewers, when the raffish war hero Captain Ian Campbell (Paul Bettany) approaches her on a train, that he is dangerous. The target of an impoverished duke, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll loved the company of men. Historical Trips - Book your next historical adventure, 6 Secret Historic Gardens in the United Kingdom, Join Dan Snow for the Anniversary of the D-Day Landings, War of The Worlds: The Most Infamous Radio Broadcast in History, The King Revealed: 10 Fascinating Facts About Elvis Presley, 10 Facts About American Poet Robert Frost. Margaret did not mention the episode in her 1975 memoirs, but she continued to adore Niven until the day he died. "She. They featured Margaret the Duchess, a former debutante of the year, in her Art Deco-style bathroom at her Upper Grosvenor Street home dressed in nothing but her signature three-strand pearl necklace. 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. Ian broke into into Margarets house and hired a locksmith to open a cabinet in which he found compromising photos. The judge did not release compromising images of her but did describe them in clear detail. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The duke named three suspects Sigismund von Braun, John Cohane and Peter Combe let alone the 88 possible lovers he cited in his petition. She was targeted by an impoverished duke who had inherited the dukedom of Argyll faute de mieux (he was the first cousin once removed of the 10th duke) and a castle in ruins the Gothic revival Inveraray. We will send you the latest TV programmes, podcast episodes and articles, as well as exclusive offers from our shop and carefully selected partners. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. In 1943, she fell nearly 40ft down a lift shaft, surviving but with a significant trauma to her head: many say the fall altered her personality, and that she was a different woman afterwards. It was a constant ball. polaroid the headless man picture duchess polaroid the headless man picture duchess (No Ratings Yet) . But then ensued the reality of high life being sometimes incompatible with real life. She is wearing a triple string of pearls around her neck a piece of jewellery that will acquire extra significance later. The Duke was known to be addicted to alcohol, gambling and prescription drugs, and was described as physically violent and emotionally abusive by his first two wives, whose money he tried to use to maintain Inveraray Castle. Shortly afterwards, she announced her engagement to Charles Guy Fulke Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick. Its a pity the drama does not have time to explain the years of fame that came before her disgrace, and which shaped her. According to The Grit in the Pearl, Ian and Margarets marriage spiraled into mutual infidelities. Like everybody, Id do anything to have it all over again. Far from being envious of her lifestyle during the economic depression, the British public adored Margaret Whigham. Whilst there may well have been an attraction between them, Margarets money was a key factor in the decision to marry: the Dukes ancestral home, Inveraray Castle, was crumbling and badly needed an injection of cash. In an age before commercial air travel, life on board ocean liners was a social stratosphere within itself. After the historic case she never remarried, and lost much of her fortune in later life. According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had the morals of a tomcat. a self-confessed wolf. 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. And what were the infamous Polaroid photos that proved so contentious? 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 . Her own generation would chuckle if her name came up and refer to the Headless Man scandal, as though that had been the only interesting thing about Margarets long life. Margaret Campbell, the famously beautiful Duchess of Argyll, had been a celebrity - and a source of scandal - from even before her debutante days. Life was apparently roses all the way. 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. There was no legal recourse. You dont attack if youre a judge. In 1977, speaking to Melvyn Bragg, she lamented, Ive had the most ghastly publicity in the world. Indeed, in the aftermath of the trial, Margaret was referred to in British papers and tabloids by a series of unbecoming sobriquets, like the Dirty Duchess and the Fellatio Duchess., During this time, Margaret became a grandmother, and [newspapers are reporting about these] Polaroid photographs of her with a mans dick in her mouth, continues Phelps. There were also photographs of the Duchess fellating a naked man whose face was not shown. 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. Even her mother (Phoebe Nicholls) has nothing but contempt for her: My daughter, an adulteress, a round-heel the squalor of it.. Society ached to know his identity, and the duke was even required to pose naked to prove the torso wasnt his. It is 1920s slang, for a woman who topples on to her back at the slightest touch. Margaret Whigham was a sensation to British society when she arrived from America as a teenager in the 1920s. 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. Nonetheless, after the divorce, that was all anyone ever talked about in connection with Margaret. One showed the duchess carrying out a sex act on one of the naked men, whose heads were not seen in any of the shots. 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. she said. She struck a lonely figure many times during the first hour, whether trying to entertain her step-children or plunging into a one-night stand after a party, but she never looked more alone than when the public turned on her. Ian had referred to Margaret as Satan. Getty Images. 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. Buy now for 16.99 at books.telegraph.co.uk or call 0844 . It was like Princess Diana, Kim Kardashianthis globally famous beauty.. This drama captures that sense of national outrage in those opening shots, as the duchesss car is besieged on a London street by onlookers who hurl abuse and spit at the windows. Long afterwards, it was claimed that there were actually two "headless men" in the photographs, Fairbanks and Sandys, the latter identified on the basis of the Duchess's statement that "the only Polaroid camera in the country at that time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence". In 1943, she suffered a catastrophic fall that left her with 30 stitches and a broken vertebra, temporarily unable to walk. He was American airline executive William "Bill" Lyons, according to Duchess Margaret Campbell's ex-daughter-in-law. 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.. But that didn't stop the Duke and his guest from sleeping together. Fashion designers and socialites clamoured around the duchess. [6] For the rest of her life, Margaret was associated with glamour and elegance, being a firm client of Hartnell, Victor Stiebel, and Angele Delanghe in London before and after the Second World War. A Very British Scandalfocuses especially on the attitudes towards women at the time, as Margaret was vilified throughout the divorce battle for refusing to go quietly, despite being betrayed by friends and publicly shamed by society. In 1990, three years before her death, Margaret reflected on the absurdly high highs and low lows of her life, in an interview quoted by The Telegraph. 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. A Very British Scandal continues on BBC1 tonight and tomorrow at 9pm. 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 . 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