The daughter of a textile millionaire, she dazzled with her beauty (green eyes, fair skin, red lipstick), devil-may-care social strategy (she double-booked men for the evening), and nouveau riche accoutrement (she was chauffeured to and from school in a Rolls-Royce, skied at St. Moritz, and wore gowns from Norman Hartnell). 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. Admirers lined the route from Hyde Park Corner to their wedding at Brompton Oratory in 1933 and traffic in Knightsbridge came to a halt for three hours; 2,000 invited guests were joined by 2,000 gatecrashers. Eight months after her wedding, the nation held its breath as she fought for her life, following a disastrous stillbirth. Nearly 30 years after her death, the story of the Duchess and her sensational downfall has been dramatised on screen in the BBC's A . On 22 March 1951, Margaret became the third wife of Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. . Margaret even wrote a gossip column for Tatler, which was not all that informative as her memory was failing and she seemed incapable of spelling names correctly. 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. Claire Foy plays Campbell in, Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Fragile Snowflake Donald Trump for Allegedly Trying to Censor Him, The Johnny DeppAmber Heard Defamation Trial: The Makings of a Remarkable Moment in American Celebrity. The marriages meltdown was such a scorched-earth operation that Phelps says it could have easily carried an entire season of American Crime Story. Photographs submitted to the Edinburgh court, according to The New York Times, reportedly showed a naked man gratifying himself and pictured her, dressed in nothing but three strands of pearls, performing a sex act on a naked man in the mirrored gilt and silver bathroom of her Mayfair apartment.. Margaret did have bursts of romantic happiness but, for one reason after another, none was lasting and successful. Margaret Campbell, born in 1912 to a Scottish millionaire, was a British socialite who frequented the 'best dressed' pages of many a magazine and was. As a divorce, she threw lavish parties whose success she attributed to the fact that she only invited beautiful women because she thought it restful for men to rest their gaze on them. And yet the technicalities of the prehistoric legal system at that time (and the fact that many of her 'lovers' were gay) prevented the duchess from giving her side of the story without risking imprisonment. Margaret, the Duchess of Argyll on the June 1969 cover of Tatler. By Ian Tyas/Keystone Features/Getty Images. [14] It is claimed that this analysis proved that the man in question was Fairbanks, then long married to his second wife, but this was not made public. Who was Margaret the Duchess of Argyll? I had this house [on Upper Grosvenor Street]. At the time of their first meeting, the Duke was still married to Louise Timpson. Ian filed for divorce, citing both the photos and a list of 88 men noted in her diary, men Ian suspected Margaret had slept with during their marriage. The type, to be harsh, is familiar today. After a teen dalliance with actor David Niven, she dated Pakistani diplomat Aly Khan, millionaire aviator Glen Kidston, publishing heir Max Aitken, and Prince George, Duke of Kent, before settling down for the first of two marriages. Business, Economics, and Finance. But by the early 1960s, Margarets fortunes had reversed on an epic scale. How King Charles and Prince William Plan to Protect the Monarchy Against an Uncertain Future, The daughter of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani was overwhelmed as a child by a wave of tragedy and looked for a gasp of air to breathe, even as sharks circled all around. Now, she tells, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 2. [8], In 1943, Margaret had a near-fatal fall down a lift shaft. The photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the 'headless man' Polaroid. I dont think anybody has real style or class any more, Margaret told The New York Times. Bogus deeds of gift not worth the paper they were written on. On 22 March 1951, Margaret, 38 at the time, married Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll. The mystery man in the explicit photo became known as the 'headless man' and his identity has been largely speculated. Through first-class education and living in the right places, giving the most generous parties and making sure Margaret was dressed in the best clothes, Whigham managed to springboard his daughter into society so much so that she was pronounced Debutante of the Year in 1930. In 1951, she married the 11th Duke of Argyll, who was popular, charming and handsome, but also malicious, addicted to alcohol and gambling, and a shameless sponger. (One series) 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. Debutantes were not expected to discuss the great issues of the day but merely to issue pleasant tinkling laughs while the man spoke. [1] Her numerous early romances included an affair with Prince George, Duke of Kent. Inside the sad decline of 'Fairy Floss Girl': How the racegoer who shot to fame when Kyle Sandilands gushed that Student who refused to enter arranged marriage was stabbed in the chest with a metal spike by her uncle and Theatre issues trigger warning for production which 'involves the handling of a cooked egg'. 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. [14], The Duchess counter-petitioned the divorce, accusing the Duke of committing adultery with her stepmother, Jane Corby Wigham. 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. All rights reserved. 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. Meeting by chance on a train, Argyll told Margaret of some of his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War Two, omitting the fact that the trauma had left him reliant on alcohol and prescription drugs. Sample Page; ; Lord Dennings report has been sealed until 2063: it was reviewed after 30 years by the then Prime Minister, John Major, who decided to keep the testimonies firmly sealed for a further 70 years. They did not. Their marriage, at the Brompton Oratory, stopped traffic in Knightsbridge for 3 hours and was declared the wedding of the decade by many in attendance. American businessman John Cohane was names as another one of Margaret's lovers. Fighting in the Fog: Who Won the Battle of Barnet? [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. The list is said to include two government ministers and three members of the British royal family. The young truants, sons of earls and viscounts, used to hide under a rug in the back of his Rolls-Royce until they were off school premises. By the time shes dead, her sobriquet will still be Blowjob Duchess. Can you imagine the guts it takes to get up in the morning, put your poodle on its leash, put on your lipstick, put on your pearls, and take your poodle to the park? And thank God Ive had it., George Whigham made sure Margaret had a different couture dress for each event and was so tireless in promoting his daughter that he was accused of hiring press agents. She also had a serious romantic relationship with Theodore Rousseau, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who was, she recalled, "highly intelligent, witty and self-confident to the point of arrogance". It was like Princess Diana, Kim Kardashianthis globally famous beauty.. [4], On 21 February 1933, following her conversion to Roman Catholicism,[2] Margaret married Sweeny at the Brompton Oratory, London. Margaret Argyll, the only child of a self-made Scottish millionaire, was a society beauty who her husband alleged had slept with 88 men, including two cabinet ministers and three royals. In those days, society men did not take personalities into consideration when choosing a wife. 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. She is penniless, says Phelps. Margaret had eight miscarriages and a stillborn child before managing to produce two children: one became the Duchess of Rutland and mother to the current duke, the other a sensible businessman. Tatler is mischievous, glamorous, intelligent and fun, providing an insider's view of what is really happening in British society with a compelling mix of fashion, the arts, politics, people, parties and glamour.Tatler UKTatler contributorsThe BYSTANDER Everything about everybody everywhereDI. 'How many women do you have?,' Foy replies. The Grit in the Pearl : The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll by Lyndsy Spence published by The History Press Ltd RRP 20. 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. With a rigid poise that mixes froideur with fear, Foy makes Margaret both defiant and pitiful. 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. The identity of the Headless Man was never revealed during her lifetime. [She was] a passionate woman with her own morality, because anybody that doesnt give up their friends, that cuts a lot of ice with me.. Margaret spent the first fourteen years of her life in New York City, where she was educated privately at the Hewitt School. [2], The Sweenys divorced in 1947. Her story will be the subject of Season 2 of "A Very English Scandal," which. [8] The Duchess herself forged letters to sow doubt about the fatherhood of Ian Campbell, the Marquess of Lorne, and Lord Colin Campbell, her husband's sons from his second marriage to Louise Timpson; and she even tried to acquire a newborn baby she could pass off as her husband's rightful heir. 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