The first episode took place just 16 minutes into the first episode, between Margaret and an unnamed stranger she meets at a fun-filled dinner party. After she married American golfer Charles Sweeny, Cole Porter counted her among the worlds greatest glories. 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. Four years later, the Sweenys divorced. A selection of short interviews with Margaret Whigham, Duchess of Argyll. Its a pity the drama does not have time to explain the years of fame that came before her disgrace, and which shaped her. And I have given up hopes of any improvement., Says Phelps, Shes sort of brilliant and tragic in a way, but also triumphant. Margaret would realize her new husband, who was said to be a gambling and alcohol addict, was broke. What Was the Sudeten Crisis and Why Was it So Important? He also produced 13 Polaroid pictures he had found which showed the duchess and two naked men in her bathroom. Imagine the courage that takes., Shes a hot mess. The pictures had been discovered by her husband, who allegedly hired a locksmith to gain access to his wife's private papers. The Headless Man in the salacious pictures of the duchess disclosed in the divorce case has never been definitively identified. In 1930, as 17-year-old debutante Margaret Whigham entering London society, she was regarded as the most beautiful woman in England. Usually accompanied by her poodle Alphonse, and a gay male escort, her face was always expressionless, a Canute-like attempt to hold back the onset of wrinkles. The list is said to include two government ministers and three members of the British royal family. [2], In fact, Margaret was not mentioned in Porter's original version of "You're the Top". [8], In 1943, Margaret had a near-fatal fall down a lift shaft. According to The Grit in the Pearl, Ian and Margarets marriage spiraled into mutual infidelities. The toxic love affair between the Duke and Duchess started with Margaret divorcing her then-husband to marry Ian, who would become the Duke of Argyll. What do you make of your life? an interviewer asked her in 1990. George Hay Whigham was a self-made millionaire: although his family was well-connected, they were not wealthy. History Hit brings you the stories that shaped the world through our award winning podcast network and an online history channel. One rumour suggests it was the former Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys (who later became the son-in-law of Winston Churchill). But Ian Campbell would also be her doom. The top was what I was supposed to be. He was a bad man before he went in,says Phelps. Together they are absolutely the essential things in life.) She was also game to offer a hot-take dripping in condescension. [8], The Duchess never revealed the identity of the "headless man", and Fairbanks always denied the allegation. According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had the morals of a tomcat. Society speculated about whom the torsos might belong to the names of Tory cabinet minister Duncan Sandys and Douglas Fairbanks Jr (Young Doug, a war hero and Hollywood actor) were bandied about and since Margaret had claimed it was the dukes own impressively sized organ in the Polaroids, Argyll had to undergo a medical inspection to see if the dimensions measured up. In 1963 the resignation of John Profumo rocked the government as his affair with Christine Keeler was exposed to the world. Foy told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour:'It's a really hard line because basically you do feel exploited when you are a woman and you are having to perform fake sex on screen. And her exploitsas debutante of the year in 1930 and prolific high-society partygoerearned her international press coverage and a reference in Cole Porters Youre the Top., She was the most photographed woman of her time, of her generation, says Sarah Phelps, the writer who adapted Margarets story for A Very British Scandal, the miniseries coming to the U.S. April 22. Hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and subscriber rewards. Home. The porcelain-skinned Margaret, with her bewitching green eyes, was considered a great beauty. Margaret went through a whirlwind of suitors. Society ached to know his identity, and the duke was even required to pose naked to prove the torso wasnt his. Margaret's rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings. He also compared the handwriting on the photos with handwriting samples from the men, and did apparently determine who the man in question was, although his identity remains a secret. The claim was watertight and Margaret knew she would be unsuccessful but wanted to give her rival a run for the money. As a young woman I had been constantly photographed, written about, flattered, admired, included in the Ten Best-Dressed Women in the World list, and mentioned by Cole Porter in the words of his hit song "You're the Top". When the former husband and wife square off in a Virginia courtroom this week, it will mark the culmination of a divorce that has been without comparison in the annals of modern American celebrity. Everyones got old and fat.. She radiates that discomfort and shame, until we feel it ourselves. She was absolutely appalled. It was a constant ball. Margaret with J Paul Getty at a film premiere in London, 1970, Of the splendour of these years, she said to biographer Charles Castle: The period between 1930 and 1933 was packed with gaiety and fun It was heaven. [4], On 21 February 1933, following her conversion to Roman Catholicism,[2] Margaret married Sweeny at the Brompton Oratory, London. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. He spent the entire war pretty much in a prisoner of war camp, a death camp. I dont think anybody has had such a good time as I had. After his death, George Whighams assets were less than had been assumed and the 18,000 a year income from the trust fund barely covered Margarets living expenses. This richly detailed, three-part costume drama which continues tonight portrays her second marriage to the Duke of Argyll and the notorious divorce battle that ended it. At the age of 15, she became pregnant with the actor David Niven's child while on a holiday on the Isle of Wight, but the pregnancy was terminated. She continued giving the occasional TV interview, usually with one of her many beloved poodles in tow. I dont think anybody has real style or class any more, Margaret told The New York Times. (One series) 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. 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. During her divorce from the duke, she became the most despised woman in Britain, denounced in the courts and from every pulpit as an adulteress. Undiluted heaven. [10], Granting the divorce, Lord Wheatley, the presiding judge, said the evidence established that the Duchess "was a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied with a number of men". Image Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo. 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. Margaret, Duchess of Argyll with her poodle in 1989. When A Very British Scandal premiereswith Claire Foy playing the fabulous socialite, and Paul Bettany playing Ian Campbellit will likely be the first time that modern American audiences learn of the ill-fated socialite. She became a life-long patron of the designer, as well as Victor Stiebel and Angle Delanghe. He was American airline executive William "Bill" Lyons, according to Duchess Margaret Campbell's ex-daughter-in-law. They make a quick but racy stop-off in a cleaning cupboard, before going up to see Margaret's parents. [23], Margaret's children later placed her in a nursing home in Pimlico, London. 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. There were also photographs of the Duchess fellating a naked man whose face was not shown. 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. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. The full depth of his cruelty comes as a shock, though. Ian broke into into Margarets house and hired a locksmith to open a cabinet in which he found compromising photos. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour. Now, the story - which involved illicit Polaroid pictures and a maelstrom of headlines - is the inspiration behind the BBC's latest drama series, 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. Wheatley is a Puritan, Phelps explains. In 1951 she wed Ian Douglas Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, after meeting him on a train at Pariss Gare du Nord station in 1949. 'How many women do you have?,' Foy replies. The evidence discovered resulted in the 1963 divorce case,[13] in which the Duke accused his wife of infidelity and included a set of Polaroid photographs of the Duchess naked, save for her signature three-strand pearl necklace, in the company of another man. She was ordered to pay most of the 50,000 legal bill. [18], The Duchess wrote a memoir, Forget Not (published by W. H. Allen Ltd in 1975) which was reviewed negatively for its name-dropping and air of entitlement. He could have just given the judgment, I find in favor of the plaintiff. [1] Her numerous early romances included an affair with Prince George, Duke of Kent. 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. She also lent her name as author to a guide to entertaining. [7], She had three children with Sweeny: a daughter, who was stillborn at eight months in late 1933; another daughter, Frances Helen (born 1937, who married Charles Manners, 10th Duke of Rutland), and a son, Brian Charles (19402021). From her greed is good heyday to her post-divorce denouement cavorting with a series of freaky Italian lovers, it was Ivana, all along, who gilded the Trump name. She tried the Law Lords, [which] decided that Ian is perfectly within his right to use as evidence against his wife material that he burgled from her house. [11], Within a few years, the marriage was falling apart. Divorced from Sweeny when we first meet her in the late 1940s, she is plainly a racy celebrity, one who adores predatory male attention but lacks any instinct for self-preservation. Fashion designers and socialites clamoured around the duchess. Pay the b-b-bills its what youre for.. Famed for her charisma, beauty, and style, Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, dominated the front pages, as the divorce exposed accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, bribery, and an explicit Polaroid picture that was to haunt her for the rest of her life. My daughter had married a duke. But then ensued the reality of high life being sometimes incompatible with real life. The men, on the other hand, were interesting or powerful and hailed from across the world. 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.. The Sexual Revolution with Virginia Nicholson, Anne Franks Legacy: How Her Story Changed the World. It was supposed to be a divorce hearing. With irrefutable evidence, Argyll was granted his divorce. But in the days when society scandals were few and far between, this one was the ne plus ultra. Margaret Sweeny, nee Whigham, photographed in 1935. Looks and charm and money, of course were the main things, alongside social rank. If Margaret, Duchess of Argyll gets away with this, what will all women do?, I thought he was such a bastard, Margaret told George Hume in a 1990 interview. Margaret wearing a pink ball gown in 1938. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. Patron of the Duchess disclosed in the divorce case has never been identified! 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