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. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. 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. 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. She looks like a family woman, sitting alongside her husband, the Duke of Argyll and children, but thats only one picture. Fairbanks Jr and Margaret both denied he was the Headless Man, but he was identified through his handwriting. . To him, she was just a bank account. The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs. A POLAROID picture was one of the key pieces of evidence in the scandalous divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. Another, racier Polaroid, showing the Duchess pleasuring a man, was also produced. Her lovers reportedly included comedy giant Bob Hope, French . As she once summed up, referencing both her love of animals and her signature pearls, Always a poodle, only a poodle! Margaret learned the hard way that money cant buy you happinessbut she sure did try. ", 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, The Duke and Duchess of Argyll at their wedding in 1951. Still, it took a dark turn. Even her friends thought she completely lacked a sense of humor, and she called herself a bird brain. More than that, Margaret was having further difficulty giving him a child, which didnt help matters. We want our readers to trust us. Royal Family's thoughts . He was a notorious drinker and gambler, and was hooked on prescription medications to boot. Some peoples lives get strictly divided into before and afterbut nothing can hold a candle to what Margaret was about to experience. One of the images featured his wife naked but for a string of pearls, performing . I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. Naked polaroid photos of her performing oral sex on a "Headless Man" (ie a man . In several photos, Margaret was wearing only a string of her trademark pearls. Image: Amazon Prime Video. Clearly, her second marriage was in deep troublebut no one had any idea what was really around the corner. Published: December 26, 2021 at 8:05 am. The winners of this [imagesource: Meta] With 88 possible lovers to choose from, the press had a field day hunting down who the man could be. 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 . He had been flying through a dust storm when his entire plane broke apart beneath him, sending him to his end. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. . But there was more hope to lose. "The Dirty Duchess of Argyll Was ahead of Her Time." Ben Macintyre, The Times, February 2, 2019. As she put it, All Charlie wanted in a wife was a pretty, brainless doll. More than that, all of his wives claimed he had mistreated them during their marriage. Then again, right around this time, Margaret went off the deep end herself. As the 1970s dawned and free love became a more accepted concept, youd think Margarets image would get re-habilitated. Best known for the explicit Polaroid . 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. My mom never told me how her best friend died. But there were disturbing indications of what really happened. Just two years after this episode, Margaret pulled a fast one on society. 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. 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. BBC One's follow up to the 2018 A Very English Scandal . There's something about the family structure that encourages secrets. Yet those were only his picturesque qualities. As the lyrics go: Youre Mussolini / Youre Mrs Sweeny. In short, Margaret should have run away. Sure, Margaret never divulged the names of the headless man or her other lovers, but she sure did try to cash in on her own scandal. 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. Margaret married Ian Campbell in March of 1951 and became the Duchess of Argyll in the process. 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 . So when Margaret started staying out extra late and getting more distant, the Duke committed a creepy breach of trust. Indeed, she was usually performing acts on men who were not the Duke of Argyll. Years ago, if youll remember, Margarets first husband Charles Sweeny claimed that her fall down an elevator shaft had fundamentally changed her personality and turned her into a nymphomaniac. After all, the flyboy was already married and had a young toddler at home. As one maid who worked for the family put it, all hell broke loose at that point. On our left in the image atop, is the Duchess of Argyll, Margaret Campbell. 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. The couple married in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful. 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. She got supremely unlucky and, months later, discovered her pregnancy. These matched the ones Ian Campbell held up in court. 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. Instead of going for either Greville or Aiken, she dumped them both and went with another man entirely: The businessman and avid golfer Charles Sweeny. 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 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. Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? The Duke and Duchess of Argyll's infamous 1963 divorce captured the public's attention with its twists and scandalous revelations. 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. Margarets dignity took a hit in her later years, but her personality seemed to curdle as well. Following the scandal, he offered to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was declined. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Ian owed a lot of money due to his own gambling addiction and he calculated that Margaret's father might help him out financially. Upon finding this evidence, the Duke of Argyll turned right around and started divorce proceedings against Margaret. 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. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Lyons was a "scion of a wealthy family" and was the duchess's lover for six years. By the early 1990s, Margaret was no longer able to take care of herself, and her children placed her in a nursing home. Both of them, though, show her wearing her iconic three-string pearls, jewellery that she had inherited from her grandmother. There was the duchess, wearing only a string of pearls, pleasuring a standing man while on her knees. Frustratingly enoughand key to everything that followedthe mens heads were often out of frame, making them impossible to identify. 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. She never did shake off the "Dirty Duchess'" nickname, though. with the Duchess portrayed by Clare Foy. Then, in 1943, everything changed once moreand not for the better. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from Life to Compact Cars and Trucks to A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius. Well get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics youre interested in. Margaret had only grown more beautiful as the years passed, and when she made her debut she was almost too gorgeous to look at. But its what David and Margaret were about to get up to that was worthy of a dramatic screenplay. Before joining the team, she worked as a course lecturer while completing her Ph.D. in English Literature. Duchess of Argyll divorce: What was the headless man Polaroid picture? Again, fair enough. After discovering explicit Polaroid photos, the Duke used these as evidence in the court case, including one that showed the Duchess wearing nothing but a string of pearls, standing next to a naked man whose head had been cut out of the photo. The Dirty Duchess of Argyll was ahead of her time. Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? "You get to see behind it and ask the questions such as what may actually had gone on at the time and how it affected the individuals.". 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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. 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. Incredibly, his identity was still a mystery after all this time, and journalists tried to guess who he might be.