Unseen picture of the ‘Dirty Duchess’ of Argyll to go on display at the National Portrait Gallery

Thirty years after her death, the Duchess of Argyll will once again be thrust into the spotlight in a new exhibition. 

The embittered 1963 divorce of the Duke and Duchess and his third wife Margaret Sweeny was one of the most turbulent court cases of the 20th century, fraught with forgery, bribery, theft and scandal surrounding explicit photographs. 

Charismatic Margaret, Duchess of Argyll’s reputation never recovered, after she was branded a nymphomaniac by her husband, Scottish peer Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, who stole an explicit Polaroid picture of her and used it to expose her infidelity – making her one of the first victims of revenge porn, according to her biographer. 

The Duke, who went on to remarry after his divorce from Margaret, alleged that his estranged wife had 80 lovers during their marriage.  

And now, a never-before-seen portrait of the ‘Dirty Duchess’ dating back to the 1930s is set to be shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of 25 newly discovered works by 20th century pioneering photographer Madame Yevonde in June. 

The coloured picture shows Margaret, who was one of the most photographed women of the 1930s, as a young socialite. 

In the snap, she is wearing a white dress adorned with art deco patterns and fine jewellery as she stands in an empty frame. 

The Duchess gained notoriety due to her high profile divorce from Ian Douglas in 1963 and the scandal surrounding her intimate pictures that followed. 

The case is thought to be one of the first instances of revenge porn, with the Duke circulating an intimate Polaroid of his estranged wife to damage her reputation.  

The image allegedly showed Margaret wearing only her signature triple-string of pearls while fellating an unidentified man and was reportedly ‘full frontal’ and ‘left nothing to the imagination’.

She never let on the identity of her male companion in the snap, only pictured from the neck down, and he became known as the ‘Headless Man’ – while she was branded the ‘dirty duchess’.

To this day, his identity remains unknown, but over the years it’s been speculated that the man was New York stockbroker Joe Thomas, who Margaret enjoyed a romance with before she met and married the Duke.  

Other rumours claimed it was the actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr, former Nazi Sigismund von Braun, and Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence and Winston Churchill’s son-in-law.

Frances came to see her mother as a ‘nightmare of embarrassment’, a friend told Vanity Fair in 1968. The pair did reconcile before Margaret’s death in 1993, by which point she was living at St George’s Nursing Home in Pimlico. Ian died in 1973. Pictured in 1989

The embittered divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll (pictured), which made front page news in 1963, was adapted into a BBC miniseries entitled A Very British Scandal in 2021

The couple’s explosive 1963 divorce battle which made front page news was the focus of a BBC miniseries entitled A Very British Scandal in 2021. 

It came from the same team behind A Very English Scandal, which dramatised the Jeremy Thorpe saga that rocked the UK government in the 1970s.

Claire Foy starred as Margaret opposite Paul Bettany, who played her second husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll – whose youngest son is Lord Colin Ivar Campbell, former husband of Lady Colin Campbell.

Lyndsy Spence, who penned The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, said Margaret was in many ways ‘an early victim of celebrity hacking’, with her private images ‘revealed without her say-so’. 

‘She was publicly sl*t-shamed; the same legal system that prevented Margaret from telling her side of the story without the risk of imprisonment, permitting Ian to exhibit the stolen Polaroids,’ she explained.

Margaret was particularly vilified throughout her divorce battle for refusing to go quietly despite being betrayed by friends and publicly shamed by society. 

Born in East Renfrewshire in 1912 as Ethel Margaret Whigham, she was the only child of self-made millionaire George and Helen, and spent her childhood between New York, London and Ascot.

But her father’s philandering took their toll on her mother, who suffered extreme mood swings as a result. 

Margaret was taken to a psychiatrist at the age of six, who diagnosed her with lacking a sense of humour. She also developed a stammer, for which she was treated unsuccessfully by Lionel Logue, King George VI’s speech therapist.

She preferred men’s company from a young age, and lost her virginity to actor David Niven when she was 15. She fell pregnant and had a secret termination, arranged by her parents.

Charismatic Duchess of Argyll Margaret’s reputation never recovered, after she was branded a nymphomaniac by her husband who stole an explicit Polaroid picture of her and used it to expose her infidelity – making her one of the first victims of revenge porn, according to her biographer. The couple pictured during happier times at their 1951 wedding

Born in East Renfrewshire in 1912 as Ethel Margaret Whigham, she was the only child of self-made millionaire George and Helen, and spent her childhood between New York, London and Ascot. Pictured at a dress rehearsal for the Jewels of Empire Ball at Brook House in Park Lane in 1930, when she was named Debutante of the Year

Two years later her social career took off when she was named Debutante of the Year in 1930. She went on to have four failed engagements – first to Prince Aly Khan, whose Muslim faith repelled the Whighams; Glen Kidston, a married millionaire sportsman who died in plane crash; Max Aitken, the son of Lord Beaverbrook; and Fulke Warwick, a penniless earl.

At 20, she eventually married Charles Sweeny, an Irish-American stockbroker and amateur golfer, whose family’s millions came from coal-mining, oil, and smelting. Their wedding day was a glamorous affair, stopping traffic for three hours as 2,000 guests attended the Brompton Oratory while another 2,000 onlookers gathered to see her Norman Hartnell wedding gown’s 28ft train.

The couple remained married for 15 years, during which Margaret suffered eight miscarriages and a stillbirth before welcoming a daughter, Frances, and son Brian.

But their relationship broke down, with Margaret blaming it on Charlie’s philandering during the war, claiming all he wanted in a spouse was a ‘pretty brainless doll’.

At 20, Margaret married Charles Sweeny (pictured), an Irish-American stockbroker and amateur golfer, whose family’s millions came from coal-mining, oil, and smelting

He, however, claimed she ‘changed totally’ after falling 40ft down a lift shaft in 1943 while visiting a chiropodist on Bond Street – an accident her next husband also used to claim she’d suffered brain damage so he could divorce her on the grounds of insanity.

It was also rumoured that the fall had caused nymphomania, as well as damage to her olfactory nerve, which affects one’s sense of smell.

Before she met and married the Duke in 1951 – four years after her divorce from Charles Sweeney in 1947 – Margaret enjoyed a romance with New York stockbroker Joe Thomas.

In January 2019, Ms Spence claimed he is the Headless Man from the Polaroid; it was previously rumoured to have been Douglas Fairbanks Jr, former Nazi Sigismund von Braun, and Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence and Winston Churchill’s son-in-law.

Margaret and Joe met in Berlin and reportedly took explicit photographs using a Polaroid camera, keeping one each as a memento. They allegedly showed Margaret wearing only her signature triple-string of pearls while fellating an unidentified man.

However, despite proposing to Margaret, Joe was already betrothed to socialite Poppi de Salis. He travelled to St Moritz to end it with his first fiancée, but ended up marrying her, breaking Margaret’s heart.

Before she met and married the Duke in 1951 – four years after her divorce from Charles Sweeney in 1947 – Margaret (pictured in 1961) enjoyed a romance with New York stockbroker Joe Thomas, believed to be the Headless Man in the Polaroids

Ms Spence interviewed Joe’s son Michael, who found his father’s copies of the Polaroids while looking through an old trunk.

Margaret stored her copy behind a bookcase in her house in London, but their hiding place was eventually rumbled by her embittered second husband who used them to fuel his claims about her promiscuity. 

Margaret met Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll, on a train at Gare du Nord in 1949. He pursued her relentlessly, knowing she was wealthy – while his own estate was worthless.

She took pity on him, after he told her of his five years spent as a prisoner of war and his marital problems with his second wife Louise, an American heiress, and convinced her father to give him £100,000 to restore his family seat in western Scotland, Inveraray Castle.

The Duke then forged a Deed of Gift and promised to marry her when his divorce had come through. They wed in 1951, but Ian soon showed his true colours; Ms Spence claimed he had an addiction to gambling, alcohol and prescription drugs, and an unpredictable temper.

Margaret met Ian Campbell, Duke of Argyll, pictured together in 1952, on a train at Gare du Nord in 1949. He pursued her relentlessly, knowing she was wealthy – while his own estate was worthless

The couple’s divorce was granted on the grounds of adultery, and Campbell died in 1973, with Margaret following 20 years later (pictured during their marriage)

He grew to resent his wife when she began refusing to pay off any more of his debts after three years of marriage. The couple agreed to have an open marriage and live separately.

Furious that Margaret was no longer funding his wayward lifestyle, the Duke set about trying to divorce Margaret and hired private detectives to follow her. 

He gathered evidence to prove she was unfaithful, including stealing her letters and diaries which contained the names of her alleged lovers – many of whom Ms Spence insists were gay – while she was abroad. It was then that he came across the Polaroids. 

Ian filed a divorce petition with the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which took four years to reach a verdict. Lord Wheatley, renowned for his harsh sentences, oversaw the case and ruled Margaret was a ‘highly sexed woman who has ceased to be satisfied with normal sexual activities’.

The Duke was granted a divorce on the grounds of Margaret’s adultery and she was ordered to pay seven-eighths of the £50,000 legal bill. Meanwhile nothing was said about Ian’s own affairs or his subsequent remarriage to Mathilda Mortimer, a rich American, just six weeks later.

Ian filed a divorce petition with the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which took four years to reach a verdict. Lord Wheatley, renowned for his harsh sentences, oversaw the case and ruled Margaret (pictured outside court on the second day of her case) was a ‘highly sexed woman who has ceased to be satisfied with normal sexual activities’

The scandal wrought irreparable damage on Margaret’s (pictured in 1989) reputation and her relationship with her daughter Frances – who married the Duke of Rutland and is now the Dowager Duchess and grandmother to Lady Violet, Lady Alice and Lady Eliza Manner

The scandal wrought irreparable damage on Margaret’s reputation and her relationship with her daughter Frances – who married the Duke of Rutland and is now the Dowager Duchess and grandmother to Lady Violet, Lady Alice and Lady Eliza Manners.

Frances came to see her mother as a ‘nightmare of embarrassment’, a friend told Vanity Fair in 1968. The pair did reconcile before Margaret’s death in 1993, by which point she was living at St George’s Nursing Home in Pimlico. Ian died in 1973.