To say this was opening a Pandoras box would be an understatement. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. The Polaroid has since become known as 'the photo of the headless man', and the man's identity has long been the subject of speculation, with many books and programmes debating who he could have been. In several photos, Margaret was wearing only a string of her trademark pearls. 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. We want our readers to trust us. But it was here that tragedy struck. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs. Yet the wedding was not to be, as she was soon swept off her feet by the wealthy American, Charles Sweeney, who instead became her first husband. Oh, Peggy. On brand for a high-class woman, and Margaret even quipped she was there to, "put the point of view of the horse". It was the perfect recipe for disaster. Distrusting the duchess, Campbell seized her private Polaroid photos from a locked cupboard in their Mayfair home. . The answer they narrowed it down to nearly broke the country. He had been flying through a dust storm when his entire plane broke apart beneath him, sending him to his end. He also produced 13 Polaroid pictures he had found which showed the duchess and two naked men in her bathroom. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. 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. Dirty Duchess Who was Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll, and when is A Very British Scandal on TV? 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. During the divorce proceedings, the Duke produced various incriminating letters and photographs, which he took from the Duchess's Mayfair home. 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Although Catherine's successor Queen Anne Boleyn suffered an infamously dark fate, Aragon's own life was somehow even more tragic. . Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. Seems pretty conclusive. However, both Douglas and Margaret denied that he was the headless man. Rebounding from a breakup is always risky, and Margaret was rebounding from a full-blown tragedy. She was 35. Inside, he discovered a cache of evidence of her infidelities, including Polaroid pictures of her with another man. Thing is, that wasnt even the most scandalous part. His next idea would be the couples downfall. She became a life-long patron of the designer, as well as Victor Stiebel and Angle Delanghe. Instead, she ran right towards him and her doom. On the surface, it looked like she was on top of the world. She passed on July 25, 1993. Born to a Scottish millionaire, she grew up in New York City and attended some of the most exclusive private schools in the country alongside some of the best, brightest, and definitely wealthiest heirs and heiresses of her day. She also almost died during a horrific accident while visiting her chiropodist, in which she fell down a lift shaft. Copyright 2023 by Factinate.com. 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. Unfortunately, when it came to Margaret, having so many romantic options always meant trouble. Margaret, the Duchess of Argyll on the June 1969 cover of Tatler. "She. Talking about the series, actress Claire Foy who plays Margaret Campbell said: "The premise is that it is an untold story of something that was a scandal. The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. Claire Foy is resplendent in pearl necklaces, pillbox hats, fur shawls and satin evening gloves as she reenters the unforgiving world of aristocracy to play the Duchess of Argyll for BBC One's A Very British Scandal. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. The Channel 4 documentary "proved" that Sandys is the 'headless man', based on a claim from Margaret that the only Polaroid camera in the country at the time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence. From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. . Looking back, this may have been the point it all began to unravel. In the late 80s, the Dirty Duchess found a new way to make some quick cash. Unlike like her shocking accident in the elevator, this time Margaret was far too frail to survive. He had much darker ones, too. One of the images featured his wife naked but for a string of pearls, performing . In 2000, a Channel 4 documentary sought to discover who the man really was, with two names in particular raised as possible candidates. But another Polaroid picture showed the duchess performing a similar sex act on a . where he found incriminating letters and 13 racy Polaroid photographs. because the Ministry of Defence had the only Polaroid camera in Britain at the time. Sony Pictures Entertainment. . Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. The Peerage, Pearls, and Polaroids, Oh My! While in the nursing home bathroom one day, Margaret had a severe fall that broke her neck. 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. According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had the morals of a tomcat. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. The reasons behind it were eye-opening. While Margaret had been married once before when she met the Duke, Campbell had already gone through two wivesand his track record was far from reassuring. The next years of Margarets life paved the way for the infamy she was about to achieve. 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. Subs offer. Rescuers located Margaret, and, miraculously, she was still alive. And then he got cold, cruel revenge. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Plus, there was another disconcerting sign: Margaret had a locked drawer in their home, and his dark fantasies about its contents drove him mad. Getty Images. The promised sight of Margaret in her Norman Hartnell wedding dress gummed up traffic in the surrounding area of Knightsbridge for three hours. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. In fact, during this time she desperately tried to get people to sell her an entire baby boy. Sandys's identity is "conclusively proved", the documentary makers believe, by the duchess's claim that the only Polaroid camera in the country at the time had been lent to the Ministry of Defence . 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). An Exclusive First Look at Claire Foy in A Very British Scandal. . Despite the tragedy, Margaret tried againeventually having two more children with Sweeny by 1940but her difficulties left lasting psychological scars. 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. 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. View our online Press Pack. As Margaret later related, I apparently fell on to my knees and cracked the back of my head against the wall. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. The future Duchess of Argyll was born Ethel Margaret Whigham on December 1, 1912, in Scotland to a millionaire father. After completing her education in New York, she moved back to the UK, where her beauty and status as an heiress made her much in-demand on the social scene. 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. Actually, thats putting it kindly. Cracks in this life of leisure, however, quickly began to appear. The case soon became very popular, with Margaret calling the 'dirty duchess' and the 'headless man' in the widely thought Polaroid images (Sir Winston Churchill . But these boys were just practice for the man she was about to meet. For Margarets secrets, it was the apocalypse. The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity. 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). And once she was finally free, Margaret let loose. Is it any wonder she got herself into a royal mess? Channel 4 thinks this was actually someone else - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Obviously, Margaret had to choose just one manbut she threw a cruel curveball at her lovers. 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. 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. "In 2013, Margarets stepdaughter-in-law Lady Colin Campbell claimed the duchess had told her it was American airline executive Bill Lyons but I think I have stumbled upon the most likely truth. One man who kept popping up in Margarets history was the Minister of Defense for Britain, Duncan Sandys, who would also go on to become Winston Churchills son-in-law. After all, the flyboy was already married and had a young toddler at home. Heated debate breaks out after woman claims wiping just with loo roll alone ISNT enough - so which side do you fall on? The German diplomat and brother of the Nazi scientist Werner von Braun, who invented the Nazis V-2 rocket, was another possible candidate for the 'headless man' in photo. The winners of this [imagesource: Meta]
In the late 80s, the Dirty Duchess found a new way to make some quick cash. Incredibly, his identity was still a mystery after all this time, and journalists tried to guess who he might be. In the early days of Margarets married life, she happily anticipated bouncing babies and domestic bliss. Thereafter, the Duke, who allegedly referred to her as S for Satan, looked for proof of her adultery and proceeded to divorce her, leaving her to fend for herself. 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. Margaret learned the hard way that money cant buy you happinessbut she sure did try. Credit Solution Experts Incorporated offers quality business credit building services, which includes an easy step-by-step system designed for helping clients build their business credit effortlessly. 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 case left Margaret vilified by the press in a pre-sexual revolution Britain and branded the "Dirty Duchess," while her former husband, who was also accused of adultery, escaped similar .