Search results
On May 8, 1963, a provocative scandal came to a close, as judgement on the Duke and Duchess of Argyll’s divorce case was finally made. The case was a tabloid sensation which left the reputation of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, in tatters. After her husband accused her of sleeping with over 80 men behind his back, and a cache of ...
- Condé Nast
- 58 sec
Apr 22, 2022 · The new show "A Very British Scandal," starring Claire Foy, premieres Fri., April 22, on Amazon. ... But it all came crashing down when Campbell used photos he had stolen of his wife “in ...
- Who Were The Duke and Duchess of Argyll?
- Why The Marriage Ended in Divorce
- What Happened During The Divorce Proceedings?
- How The Argyll Divorce Case Gives An Insight Into 20th Century Misogyny
- What Happened to The Duchess of Argyll?
Before she became known as the Duchess of Argyll, Margaret Whigham, born 1912, was an heiress of a Scottish businessman and millionaire. Famed for her beauty, Margaret moved through the most desirable social circles as a debutante and was engaged four times by the age of 19. She reportedlyunderwent an illegal abortion aged 15. In 1933, aged 20, she...
The Duke and Margaret married in 1951—Margaret became an aristocrat and the Duke gained much-needed financial relief from his many gambling debts through her inheritance and money from her previous marriage. Their marriage was rocky from the start; both had numerous lovers throughout their relationship and distrusted one another. The Duke reportedl...
The Duke applied for divorce on the grounds of adultery, and claimed that Margaret had slept with 88 men. During the hearing, he presented the compromising Polaroids, depicting Margaret, wearing nothing but her signature pearls, performing a sex act on a man whose head was cropped from the photo. The identity of the lover was never revealed—though ...
Details of the Duke’s infidelities weren’t mentioned during the proceedings. Campbell was also not questioned over the theft and display of Margaret’s private photos—which would now be considered revenge porn. Although societal attitudes were changing as Britain headed in the 1960s, and the contraceptive pill became more readily available, women we...
Although defiant in the face of the cruel gossip and societal judgment, Margaret never quite recovered from the divorce proceedings. She was ordered by a judge to pay the bulkof her ex-husband’s legal fees of £50,000—over $1.4 million today. Over the decades that followed, her fortune dwindled. In a bid to capitalize on her public notoriety, she op...
Mar 20, 2023 · Return of the 'Dirty Duchess': Portrait of the aristocrat at centre of explicit 'headless man' photo scandal who had more than 80 lovers is set to go on display at the National Portrait Gallery
Oct 27, 2021 · The titillating tale is coming to a small screen near you, as the BBC is making it into a drama series titled A Very British Scandal, following on from A Very English Scandal, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Wishaw: The series focuses on the acrimonious divorce that rocked the aristocracy and delighted the tabloids with its salacious details.
Jan 2, 2022 · THE three-part BBC series A Very British Scandal shown last week has caused considerable controversy and a lot of questions about whether Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, really was the kind of character portrayed so memorably by Claire Foy. The answer, by and large, is that she was much as shown in the drama, but there was so very much more to the Duchess.
Feb 20, 2024 · The 2000 documentary by Channel 4 named Secret History: The Duchess and the Headless Man, pointed to two men (one in the ‘headless’ polaroid and another in a similar snap where a sex act was ...
