AFFAIRS with Hollywood actors, cabinet ministers and royals earned Margaret Campbell the nickname “the Dirty Duchess”.
But the biggest scandal of all involved the mystery of the ‘headless man’ — which is the subject of an episode of Channel 5’s A Very British Sex Scandal.
GettyThe Duchess of Argyll photographed on October 9, 1958[/caption]
Who was the Duchess of Argyll?
The Duchess, Margaret Campbell, was a British socialite known for her lavish lifestyle and a string of high-profile affairs.
Born Margaret Ethel Whigham in 1912, she was the only child of a Scottish millionaire, and spent the first 14 years of her life in New York City.
Her beauty was famous and she had youthful romances with playboy Prince Aly Khan and millionaire aviator Glen Kidston.
She was just 15 when movie star David Niven, 18 at the time, got her pregnant while holidaying on the Isle of Wight.
“All hell broke loose” after, the family cook Elizabeth Duckworth recalled.
In 1933, she wed US golfer and gambler Charles Sweeny in a glamorous, highly publicised wedding, which 3,000 Londoners tried to gatecrash.
GettyThe Duchess of Argyll leaving Brompton Oratory with her husband Charles Sweeny after their marriage in 1933[/caption]
They had three children, though one was stillborn and Margaret suffered eight miscarriages, before divorcing in 1947.
In 1943, she narrowly survived falling down a lift shaft while visiting a Bond Street chiropodist.
“I fell forty feet to the bottom of the lift shaft”, she later recalled. “The only thing that saved me was the lift cable, which broke my fall.”
Sweeney claimed she “changed totally” after falling 40ft down the lift shaft.
Her next husband Ian Douglas Campbell, the Duke of Argyll, later used the accident to claim she’d suffered brain damage so he could divorce her on the grounds of insanity.
[The Duchess of Argyll] … had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities
Lord Wheatley
What was the ‘headless man’ Polaroid?
The Duke and Duchess of Argyll’s infamous 1963 divorce captured the public’s attention with its twists and scandalous revelations.
The couple wed in 1951, but their marriage soon turned sour after the Duke accused Margaret of being unfaithful.
He listed 88 men who he believed his wife had an affair with, including Hollywood actors, two government ministers and three British royals.
During the divorce proceedings, the Duke produced various incriminating letters and photographs, which he took from the Duchess’s Mayfair home.
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.
Times Newspapers LtdThe Duke and Duchess of Argyll pictured on their wedding day on March 22, 1951[/caption]
Upon seeing the presented evidence in court 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.
“She . . . had ceased to be satisfied with normal relations and had started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities.”
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 photo, in which the man was only captured from the neck down, became knows as the ‘headless man’ Polaroid.
The Duchess refused to reveal who the man is, leaving the press to speculate about his identity.
Another, racier Polaroid, showing the Duchess pleasuring a man, was also produced.
PAPaul Bettany as Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll, and Claire Foy as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, in 2021 BBC drama A Very British Scandal[/caption]
Who was the headless man in the picture?
The duchess died aged 80 in 1993, and never revealed who the headless man was.
Although his identity may never be confirmed, here are the most likely candidates:
Douglas Fairbanks Jr
The movie star was named as Margaret’s lover, one of the 88 men on the list that the Duke produced in court.
Fairbanks Jr and Margaret both denied he was the headless man, but he was identified through his handwriting.
Times Newspapers LtdDouglas Fairbanks Jr and his wife arriving at the Pheonix Theatre on September 12, 1952[/caption]
John Cohane
American businessman John Cohane was named as another one of Margaret’s lovers.
According to Lord Wheatley, the judge on the case, he had “the morals of a tomcat . . . a self-confessed wolf”.
Peter Combe
Margaret’s rumoured affair with the ex-press officer at the Savoy was named as one of the key affairs in the divorce proceedings.
Sigismund von Braun
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.
Duncan Sandys
One rumour suggests it was the former Minister of Defence, Duncan Sandys (who later became the son-in-law of Winston Churchill).
Following the scandal, he offered to resign from the cabinet but his resignation was declined.
Channel 4 documentary The Duchess and the Headless Man (2000) ‘proved’ Sandys was 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.
Duncan Sandys (left) shaking hands with Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, Viscount of Alamein at Lancaster House on September 19, 1958Times Newspapers Ltd
Joe Thomas
Before marrying the Duke, Margaret had a romance with Joe Thomas, a stockbroker from New York.
Lyndsy Spence, who wrote The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll (2019), claimed that Joe was the headless man in the Polaroid.
How to watch A Very British Sex Scandal: The Duchess and the Headless Man
A Very British Sex Scandal: The Duchess and the Headless Man will air on May 8, 2024.
It will be broadcast from 9pm on Channel 5.
If you miss the show, fear not — as it will be available to watch on My5 after it has aired.