"The Dirty Duchess of Argyll Was ahead of Her Time." Ben Macintyre, The Times, February 2, 2019. 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. 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. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. But she would be remembered for just one thing: the so-called 'divorce of the century', which ended her marriage to the Duke of Argyll in . There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Who was the Duchess of Argyll, Margaret Campbell? After all, the Duchess had one enormous skeleton in her closet. 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 . 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. Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark historyor the chilling secret shared by her and Louis. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs. Cracks in this life of leisure, however, quickly began to appear. But the writer also believes that crucial facts about the duchess's adventurous sex life are still judged too sensitive to reveal. . The promised sight of Margaret in her Norman Hartnell wedding dress gummed up traffic in the surrounding area of Knightsbridge for three hours. No clan is left untouched, and even families that seem happy and normal on. To find evidence of infidelity, he broke into Margaret's personal cupboard in their London house, where he found the infamous Polaroids along with letters and other private documents. & 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). She was known as the Dirty Duchess after her split from the 11th Duke of Argyll led to a bitter and scandalous divorce. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man&# All Rights Reserved. a self-confessed wolf. While in the nursing home bathroom one day, Margaret had a severe fall that broke her neck. The Golden Globe-winning actress plays Margaret Campbell, the Duchess of Argyll, who went through a high-profile, damaging and distressing public divorce. The couple divorced in 1947, and she went on to become engaged again to Lehman Brothers banker Joseph Thomas, although they never married. To find evidence of infidelity, he broke into Margaret's personal cupboard in their London house, where he found the infamous Polaroids along with letters and other private documents. 'The Dirty Duchess'. 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. 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 . 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. because the Ministry of Defence had the only Polaroid camera in Britain at the time. One of the explicit photographs presented in court was a Polaroid of the Duchess, wearing nothing but her signature triple-string of pearls, standing next to an unidentified man. 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. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. The headless man was notorious because he appeared in two Polaroid photographs that had featured as evidence in . That May, she got word that her lover Glen Kidston had perished in a horrific plane crash. In the late 80s, the Dirty Duchess found a new way to make some quick cash. And there was one point in particular that nobody could get over. For what its worth, yes, Margaret was very aware of the homage to her and mentioned it in her memoirs. 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 . From petty paybacks to insane acts of karma, these bitter people somehow found the most ingenious ways. In 2000, a Channel 4 documentary sought to discover who the man really was, with two names in particular raised as possible candidates. (Image credit: BBC) In 1963 the Duke initiated divorce proceedings after discovering a selection of nude polaroid pictures of his wife upon breaking into a locked cupboard whilst she was away . 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. First, you need to get your hands on a camera. In the early days of Margarets married life, she happily anticipated bouncing babies and domestic bliss. In the late 80s, the Dirty Duchess found a new way to make some quick cash. Another, racier Polaroid, showing the Duchess pleasuring a man, was also produced. 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. But it was here that tragedy struck. In 1947, just a bare four years after her traumatic accident, Sweeny and Margaret filed for divorce. 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. Ian owed a lot of money due to his own gambling addiction and he calculated that Margaret's father might help him out financially. During the divorce proceedings, he listed 88 men who he believed his wife had an affair with, including Hollywood actors, two government ministers and three British royals. Even her friends thought she completely lacked a sense of humor, and she called herself a bird brain. Her second husband - and the subject of the BBC's A Very British Scandal - was Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. Opposition parties tore into the ruling ANC's 'energy plans' [imagesource: Staffan Widstrand / World Nature Photography Awards] As she put it, All Charlie wanted in a wife was a pretty, brainless doll. Allegedly, she once invited a 17-year-old boy into Inveraray Castle for a bath and a drink, and then took off her clothes and climbed in with him. I let my sugar babies go through my dead wife's wardrobe - they love it and I find the experience 'therapeutic'. A decline that would end in a shocking incident. And then he got cold, cruel revenge. She began appearing on television programs, making a cameo appearance on the talk show After Dark to discuss the Grand National horse race. This was his third marriage - after wedding Janet Gladys Aitken and Louise Hollingsworth Morris Vanneck. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Published: December 26, 2021 at 8:05 am. Duchess of Argyll divorce: What was the headless man Polaroid picture? It was something much worse. Accordingly, they packed her up and sent her to a London nursing home, where attendants performed a very hush-hush operation to terminate. She began appearing on television programs, making a cameo appearance on the talk show After Dark to discuss the Grand National horse race. Starting in the late 1950s, the Duke of Argyll had enough of waiting for his wife to get home. Seat Classes. One can only assume that the Dirty Duchess would be loving the Hollywood treatment. 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. It was a public egg on her face and did nothing to bolster her reliabilitynot to mention she had to pay her stepmother huge damages. The judge also called her a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men. In a move he had likely pulled before, Campbell began siphoning off the money Margaret brought into the union to restore his ancestral seat at Inveraray Castle. She was presented as a debutante in 1930, and after early romances with Prince Aly Khan, aviator Glen Kidston, Baron Martin Stillman von Brabus and publishing heir Max Aitken (later the second Lord Beaverbrook) and Prince George, Duke of Kent, she became engaged to Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick. Then, in 1943, everything changed once moreand not for the better. The Duke and Duchess of Argyll were so high-society that any split between them was going to be a matter of public interest. But none of her liaisons stuck until she met Ian Douglas Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, who was allegedly bewitched by her and according to some of the harsher critics of their union the money she brought to the marriage. 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. Husbands hiding things from wives, mothers from children, and generation from generation. Ticket Price (15% VAT) The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. Thanks for your time! On our left in the image atop, is the Duchess of Argyll, Margaret Campbell. As a teenager, Margaret had gotten pregnant all too easily, but when she tried to have children with Sweeny it resulted in a heartbreaking eight miscarriages. 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. miniseries . . 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. When the beautiful textile heiress Margaret . Actually, thats putting it kindly. Both of them, though, show her wearing her iconic three-string pearls, jewellery that she had inherited from her grandmother. But dont take this to mean Margaret was settling down. By the early 1990s, Margaret was no longer able to take care of herself, and her children placed her in a nursing home. 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. 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. He had Margarets car wiretapped so he could know where she was at all times. where he found incriminating letters and 13 racy Polaroid photographs. Dancy Mason is the Editor-in-Chief at Factinate. The divorce case gripped the nation and became major tabloid fodder, especially as the private photographs became admissible as court reporting. The answer they narrowed it down to nearly broke the country. According to the 2011 Bangladesh census, Chuadanga District had a population of 1,129,015, of which 564,819 were males and 564,196 females. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. 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. During the divorce proceedings, the Duke produced various incriminating letters and photographs, which he took from the Duchess's Mayfair home. 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. 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. According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had the morals of a tomcat. . In it, among other things, was a set of extremely damning and risqu polaroid photographs. Despite the tragedy, Margaret tried againeventually having two more children with Sweeny by 1940but her difficulties left lasting psychological scars. From that point on, nothing would be the same again. The Polaroid Affair. She kept mum on identifying any of the men she was in the photographs withthough there might have been a scandalous reason for this. When she was in her late 20s, Margaret was visiting her doctor on Bond Street when she fell a whopping 40 feet down an elevator shaft in a freak accident. 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. David Niven met Margaret while the two of them were on holiday on the Isle of Wight. 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. Yet those were only his picturesque qualities. Together they are absolutely the essential things in life. With 88 possible lovers to choose from, the press had a field day hunting down who the man could be. With this, the flood gates openedbut Margaret had her own stunning revelation waiting in the wings. Soon after disentangling herself from these lovers, Margaret met the man who would ruin her life. Margaret had only grown more beautiful as the years passed, and when she made her debut she was almost too gorgeous to look at. Well, guess what? But further investigations only proved more incriminating for Margaret. 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. He was a notorious drinker and gambler, and was hooked on prescription medications to boot. On brand for a high-class woman, and Margaret even quipped she was there to, put the point of view of the horse. She had only one option. Instead, they humiliated her. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, died aged 80 in a nursing home in Pimlico, London, just a few days before the Major government decided to keep all the testimonies given to Lord Denning under wraps . Not so in 1963: Margaret was dubbed the "Dirty Duchess" by the tabloids and received a scathing rebuke from the judge, who said "her attitude to the sanctity of marriage was what moderns would . As a testament to just how popular Margaret was during her day, one version of the Cole Porter song Youre the Top mentions her by nameat least by the name she had in her first marriage. Distrusting the duchess, Campbell seized her private Polaroid photos from a locked cupboard in their Mayfair home. "She was incredibly famous," Claire tells . 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. Both of them, though, show her wearing her iconic three-string pearls, jewellery that she had inherited from her grandmother. One rumour suggests it was the former Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys (who later became the son-in-law of Winston Churchill). 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. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. Although Margarets experiences with Niven were her first time with a man, one time in her case was very much enough. Oh, and it was in Downton Abbey, too. So when Margaret started staying out extra late and getting more distant, the Duke committed a creepy breach of trust.