Portrait of Margaret Whigham later Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll or Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, by Sir Cecil Beaton, 1934.

1934 Sir Cecil Beaton, Portrait of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. Watercolour and pencil, 61 x 45.5 cm. 

Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll  ||  Norman Hartnell

Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. 1961

Wedding Portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s children (9 of 10) and their respective spouses, 1858 - 1885.

Victoria, Princess Royal (eldest daughter) married Prince Frederick William of Prussia (later German Emperor Frederick III and Empress Victoria) on January 25, 1858. Portrait by John Phillip.

Princess Alice (second daughter) married Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by the Rhine on July 1, 1862. Portrait by William Powell Frith.

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales married Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) on March 10, 1863. Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

Princess Helena (third daughter) married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein on July 5, 1866. Portrait by Christian Karl Magnussen.

Princess Louise (fourth daughter) married John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll on March 21, 1871. Portrait by Sydney Prior Hall.

Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia on January 23, 1874. Portrait by Nicholas Chevalier.

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (third son) married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia on March 13, 1879. Portrait by Sydney Prior Hall.

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (fourth son) married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont on April 27, 1882. Portrait by Sir James Dromgole Linton.

Princess Beatrice (youngest daughter) married Prince Henry of Battenberg on July 23, 1885. Portrait by Richard Catton Woodville.

Ethel Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll (née Whigham)

Margaret Campbell née Whigham, the Duchess of Argyll painted by Sir Herbert James Gunn, [date]

 A Scottish heiress and  aristocrat socialite, Margaret married twice and had affairs with many incredibly rich and influential men, but her reputation was damaged irreparably in a vicious divorce case brought against her by second husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll, Ian Campbell.

I chose this portrait simply because of the exquisite way the artist has rendered the texture of the fabric of the skirt. She was not a particularly likeable woman and seemingly achieved nothing of any worth. Note the necklace she is wearing, for those pearls became famous in a compromising Polaroid photograph of the duchess with an unidentified man which was used as damning evidence in the divorce case.

In the background of the portrait is the Duke’s hereditary home, Inveraray Castle, which would had fallen into disrepair had it not been for money provided by Margaret’s father. The Duke was, as Margaret put it, “stoney broke” and a nasty piece of work at that: abusive, manipulative and a gambler addicted to booze. 

CLAIRE FOY as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in A VERY BRITISH SCANDAL (2021), dir. Anne Sewitsky

Day 8: ‘Crown’ for #peachtober21. Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

“To Marry Earl of Warwick,” Toronto Star. March 16, 1932. Page 1. --- Miss Margaret Whigham, one of the most beautiful debutantes of 1931, whose engagement to the Earl of Warwick will, it is understood, be shortly announced. The earl, who comes of age to-morrow, is shown at LEFT of photo.

1933 Norman Hartnell, Wedding dress. Worn by Margaret Whigham later Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll or Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. Embroidered with stars and with and extra wide train for the Brompton Oratory where she was married.

While 1000 guests had been invited to Margaret’s wedding, the day was gate crashed by 2000 more. A report in the Daily Mirror on 22 February 1933 described it as ‘hooliganism, probably unparalleled in any church’. Women stood on pews to gain a better view of the bride, and shamelessly snapped up some of the floral decorations to keep as souvenirs. Again, in the words of the Daily Mirror, these women then ‘pushed their way out triumphantly, clasping pink azaleas and tulips’.

Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, London

Margaret Whigham later Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll or Margaret, Duchess of Argyll by Bassano, 1932.

National Portrait Gallery, London

The Most Noble Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, third wife of the 11th and 4th Duke of Argyll.

Victoria I (Queen of UK of Great Britain and Ireland) (24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901)

Daughter of Prince Edward (Duke of Kent and Strathearn) and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Wife of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Mother of Victoria (Princess Royal), Edward VII, Princess Alice, Prince Alfed (Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Princess Louise, Princess Helena, Prince Arthur (Duke of Connaught and Strathearn), Prince Leopold (Duke of Albany), and Princess Beatrice.

Grandmother of Wilhelmina II (King of Germany and Prussia), Princess Charlotte of Prussia, Prince Henry of Prussia, Prince Sigismund of Prussia, Princess Viktoria of Prussia, Prince Waldemar of Prussia, Princess Sophia of Prussia, Princess Margaret of Prussia, Prince Albert Victor (Duke of Clarence and Avondale), George V, Louise (Princess Royal), Princess Victoria, Princess Maud of Wales, Prince Alexander John of Wales, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, Elizabeth Feodorovna (Grand Duchess of Russia), Princess Henry of Prussia, Ernest Louis (Grand Duke of Hesse), Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine), Alexandra Feodorovna (Empress of Russia), Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, Alfred (Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Marie of Romania, Victoria Feodorovna (Grand Duchess of Russia) Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Princess Consort of Hohenlohe-Langenburg), Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Duchess of Galliera), Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, Albert (Duke of Schleswig-Holstein), Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (Princess Aribert of Anhalt), Prince Harald, Princess Margaret of Connaught (Crown Princess of Sweden), Prince Arthur of Connaught, Princess Patricia of Connaught (Lady Patricia Ramsay), Princess Alice (Countess of Athlone), Charles Edward (Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Alexander Mountbatten (1st Marquess of Carisbrooke), Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Queen of Spain), Lord Leopold Mountbatten, and Prince Maurice of Battenberg

Mother-in-law of Fredrick III (Emperor of Germany), Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Louis IV (Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine), Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, John Campbell (9th Duke of Argyll), Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

Screenwriter Sarah Phelps, Paul Bettany, and Claire Foy on “A Very British Scandal”

‘It is a story about a phenomenal woman, a pretty difficult, hurt man, and an absolute f—king mess of a marriage,’ [Phelps] says.

Foy finds it ‘incredibly dispiriting’ that the sexist shorthand for Margaret Argyll remains ‘Dirty Duchess’. ‘This moralistic weaponising of women’s sexuality – in either direction – is deeply irritating. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. You’re damned if you’re too frumpy and you’re damned if you’re too sexy. It’s dull, so dull. The conversation hasn’t moved on at all.’

What intrigued her most, she says, is the husband-and-wife relationship at the emotional heart of the drama. ‘I was moved by that. It’s about two people who fall in love and then hate each other.’

The series’ director, Anne Sewitsky, describes the Foy-Bettany chemistry as ‘sparkling from the first’. The sophisticated nuance between them, she says, ranging from cruel to vulnerable, would sometimes take the story in unexpected directions.

‘Some of the scenes I got to act with Claire,’ says Bettany – speaking on Zoom from South Carolina, where he is filming (but cannot say what) – ‘were some of the most thrilling moments as an actor that I have ever had.’ The two had never worked together before. ‘Enough cannot be said about how brilliant Claire Foy was.’

Does Bettany, 50, think the Duke has any redeeming features? ‘Well,’ he replies, laughing, ‘I think he’s got a very nice nose.’

He sees the Duke as ‘an undiagnosed sociopath in search of a codependent partner. In the courtroom, he feels a great sadness, as a sadist, that his partner has chosen not to play that game any more. He’s bereft that she’s got out from under.’

The real scandal, he feels, is that ‘when the chips are down, the aristocracy, including Margaret’s friends, surround and protect the Duke. I hope the conversation can be about the class system that protected this dreadful human being and less about the rather boring sexual stuff.’

Foy agrees: ‘She [the Duchess] thought, somebody somewhere is going to say this isn’t right. He was violent and an alcoholic and an all-round terrible husband and someone’s going to agree with me. And they never did. They just never did. And they may never – even after this programme.’

[...]

Much of the exterior filming for A Very British Scandal was done in lockdown at Inveraray Castle, seat of Clan Campbell, and the Scottish backdrop to impending disaster is stunning. Torquhil Campbell, the 13th Duke, and his wife Eleanor hosted the crew and advised on clan tartan and costume.

‘The experience was a weird mix of the peculiar and the beautiful,’ says Bettany. ‘We had amazing days on the glassy loch. And yet we were aware of it as the location where all this awfulness happened. The Duke showed us around the house that Margaret renovated.’ Phelps says he joked that it was thanks to her that the family had bathrooms and good plumbing.