Claire Foy reprises her cut glass accent that she used to portray a young Queen Elizabeth of The Crown in the trailer for the upcoming period drama A Very British Scandal.
Claire plays the flamboyantly promiscuous Margaret, Duchess of Argyll who was branded a nymphomaniac by her husband the 11th Duke of Argyll (played by Paul Bettany) in their toxic 1963 divorce hearing, which became the longest and most costly of the 20th century.
He said that she was a devoted wife to 88 people, which included Hollywood celebrities and cabinet ministers.
A trailer for the new series that will be broadcast on BBC1 Boxing Day shows the shocking combination of theft, fraud, bribery and addiction. It also features explicit photos.
Drama with lots of promise. Claire Foy portrays the flamboyantly sexual Margaret, Duchess, of Argyll, who was labelled a nymphomaniac (played in part by Paul Bettany). They are pictured together during their 1963 toxic divorce hearing
Tantalising: This trailer (pictured), hints at the shocking mix of sexuality, theft, forgery and addiction that led to the divorcing.
The Duke and Duchess are a bit temperamental. Claire Foy and Paul Bettany have a kiss together
Society darling: Margaret wed Ian Douglas Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, after meeting him on a train at Paris’s Gare du Nord station in 1949. Picture: They in 1952
‘I meet men. Men are my friends. Foy states that it doesn’t mean I have an affair with each man I meet. “There is only so much time in the day.”
She says of sex, “I love it very much and am extremely skilled at it.”
Margaret, born in 1912 as the sole child of an independent Scottish millionaire, was described by Lyndsy Spence, her biographer, as “a daddy’s daughter with an absent father and living with a jealous mom who tried to remind Margaret about every fault she had”.
Margaret was thus born with a stammer, which Lionel Logue (King George VI’s speech therapist) treated.
At just fifteen, David Niven, a future film star, fell in love with her while she was on vacation on the Isle of Wight. After that, her father took her to London and gave her a secret termination.
Her beauty as a young lady was well-known in society. She was invited to Mayfair by millionaires and princes, including actor Cary Grant, playwright Noel Coward and oil tycoon J Paul Getty. After four unsuccessful engagements, she married Charles Sweeny (an Irish-American stockbroker).
Slow fall: They had previously agreed to be married openly and to separate lives. However, angry at the fact that the duke could not afford to continue his lavish lifestyle, he hired private investigators to monitor his wife. He sought divorce. Foy and Bettany, as the Argylls
Captured on Camera: Although the duchess acknowledged seeing men, she said that they were not all affairs.
Scandal: The prince claimed that she was married to 88 people, which included Hollywood celebrities and cabinet ministers. The scandal sparked an international media storm.
Standing up for herself: Margaret (played by Foy) was vilified throughout the divorce battle for refusing to go quietly, despite being betrayed by friends and publicly shamed by society
The couple’s 1933 wedding was glamorous. Traffic was stopped for 3 hours at the Brompton Oratory, west London. Another 2,000 people gathered to admire the 28ft train that Norman Hartnell’s wedding dress.
Despite having a daughter, Frances, and a son, Brian, together, the couple’s relationship broke down after 14 years, with Margaret claiming all Charlie wanted in a spouse was a ‘pretty brainless doll’ and they divorced in 1947.
Who was this headless man, you ask?
The ‘Headless Man’ in the salacious pictures of the duchess disclosed in the divorce case has never been definitively identified. Society ached to know his identity, and the duke was even required to pose naked to prove the torso wasn’t his.
Margaret (pictured) carried the secret information about the ‘headless men’ to her grave
The suspects included Hollywood actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr and German diplomat Sigismund von Braun, but chief among them was Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence and Winston Churchill’s son-in-law.
A Channel 4 documentary in 2000 claimed that the ‘Headless Man’ was in fact two different men – Sandys and Fairbanks Jr – but it seems this may be one secret Margaret carried with her to her grave.
In 1951 she wed Ian Douglas Campbell, the 11th Duke of Argyll, after meeting him on a train at Paris’s Gare du Nord station in 1949. He’d pursued her relentlessly, knowing she was rich while his own estate was worth nothing.
She took pity on him and convinced her father to give him £100,000 to restore his family seat in Scotland, Inveraray Castle. After signing a Deed of Gift, the duke offered various items to secure his money and promised to marry her after his divorce.
The couple enjoyed luxury living, including skiing in St Moritz and sailing in the Bahamas. They also spent their time holidaying in St Tropez. Socialites and fashion designers gathered around the duchess.
The duke quickly showed his true colors, with gambling, drug, and alcohol addiction and a violent temper.
In the trailer this is implied with Bettany raising a hand towards Foy and his wife saying she wonders each day which Ian will lie next to him.
They had previously agreed to live apart and have an open marriage. Bettany asked, “How many men are you married to?” Foy responds, “How many wives do you own?”
Furious at the fact that the duchess wasn’t funding him, he hired private detectives who would follow his wife. He requested divorce.
The case revolved around a series of blurry Polaroid photos taken through the bathroom mirror in the Mayfair apartment. They showed the duchess wearing only her trademark triple string pearls. One picture shows her with an unidentified lover. His head has been removed from the image and he was later known as the “Headless Men”.
Her husband allegedly used a locksmith in order to access his wife’s papers.
The prehistoric legal system of that day, and the fact that her “lovers” were often gay prevented her from sharing her story. She was not likely to be imprisoned.
A Very British Scandal focuses especially on the attitudes towards women at the time, as Margaret was vilified throughout the divorce battle for refusing to go quietly, despite being betrayed by friends and publicly shamed by society.
Signature pearls: Margaret’s Necklace, shown above in nude photographs taken by her husband
It took four years after he filed for divorce for a verdict to be reached, which granted it to the duke on the grounds of Margaret’s adultery.
She was ordered to pay most of the £50,000 legal bill. Six weeks later, little was known about him or his affairs.
Margaret and Frances fell out after the case. Frances did not want Margaret to oppose the divorce. Margaret’s lavish lifestyle and bad investments led to her financial woes. Although she eventually reconciled herself with Frances after the case, Margaret lost her home. She was then placed in London’s nursing home, where she later died in 1993.
Boxing Day, 9pm: BBC1 will broadcast a Very British Scandal