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The Dirty Duchess of Argyll: 88 men & revenge porn

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Updated on June 15, 2021

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Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, was dubbed “the dirty duchess” by the tabloids, yet she was one of millions of women who have had their sexuality exploited against them in revenge pornography.

Margaret Whigham was born into money and had her fair share of scandals before she even acquired a title.

She became pregnant at the age of 15 after having intercourse with English actor David Niven, who was 18 at the time.

Margaret’s father was enraged and took her to London for an abortion in secret, but Margaret and Niven remained close for the rest of their lives.

Lovers

Cabinet members, Hollywood stars, and royals were among her suitors, garnering her the moniker “the Dirty Duchess.”

Her story will now be adapted for television as a spin-off of the BBC’s award-winning A Very English Scandal, which aired last year.

Dominic Treadwell-Collins, executive producer, argues the Duchess was the first woman to be “slut-shamed.”

She also went through the then-longest and most expensive divorce in British history.

Lord Wheatley, the presiding judge, described her as “a completely promiscuous woman whose sexual appetite could only be satisfied by a number of men.”

Margaret Whigham was born in 1912, the only child of a Scottish millionaire.

Margaret was characterized by her biographer Lyndsy Spence as “a daddy’s girl with an absent father, living with a jealous mother who sought to remind Margaret of her every shortcoming.”

Her beauty was well-known in society as a young lady, and she was courted by princes and wealthy men.

She was just 15 years old when she became pregnant while on vacation on the Isle of Wight with future movie star David Niven, who was two years her older.

Her enraged father had her sent to a London nursing home for a covert abortion.

Elizabeth Duckworth, the family’s chef, subsequently said, “All hell broke loose.”

The gorgeous, clever socialite hosted writer Noel Coward, actor Cary Grant, and oil magnate J. Paul Getty at her Mayfair house when she was a young lady.

When she married US golfer and gambler Charles Sweeny in 1933, her family may have hoped for calmer waters. Instead, 3,000 Londoners attempted to gatecrash the wedding, forcing police to close highways.

P.G. Wodehouse immortalized her as Margaret Sweeny in the lyrics of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes song You’re The Top.

They divorced in 1947 after having three children, one of them was stillborn. She had just survived plunging down a lift shaft a few years before.

She married Ian Douglas Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, for a third marriage in 1951.

After marrying her at Caxton Hall registration office, the Duke drove her north to Inveraray Castle, posing for photos as he carried her over the threshold.

She later said: “I had wealth, I had good looks. As a young woman, I had been constantly photographed, written about, flattered, admired and was included in a ‘Ten Best-Dressed Women in the World’ list.

“‘The Top’ was what I was supposed to be. I had become a duchess and mistress of an historic castle. Life was apparently roses all the way.”

They enjoyed the high life, skiing in St Moritz, Switzerland, sailing off the coast of Nassau, Bahamas, and sunbathing in the south of France. Fashion designers flocked to the Duchess, who didn’t wake up until 11 a.m. for her regular manicure and pedicure.

By 1954, however, the Duke had accused her of a series of relationships. Bob Hope, a comedian from the United States, and Maurice Chevalier, a French singer, were said to be lovers.

Michael Thornton, at 17 years old, found himself on the Argyll estate on a hot day in 1958. Margaret made him an offer of a drink and a bath. The Duchess entered the bathroom, nude, as he soaped himself in the tub. Her motives were quite apparent.

The Duke and Duchess were living different lives at this time. He obtained an injunction preventing her from entering the castle, which he had restored with £100,000 of her money, and divorce procedures were commenced by 1959.

The Duke, who referred to his wife as “S” for Satan, blamed their problems on her affairs, while Margaret blamed them on his drinking.