Political sex scandals are not a phenomenon confined to the 20th century onwards. It seems the Scots were way ahead of the trend with James Campbell (a Scottish nobleman of Clan Campbell) causing a political crisis in 1690 due to, well, getting married. Doesn't sound to scandalous in the age of fake mountain hikes and paternity tests but this wasn't exactly the romantic white wedding the bride, Mary Wharton, envisaged. In fact, Wharton likely wasn't envisaging any wedding as she was 13 at the time and had never met Campbell before he abducted her in the middle of the night and forcibly married her without any member of her family present. The young Wharton had come into a large inheritance shortly before the marriage that, fortunately, Campbell was never able to access as the girl was returned two days after the (surely very romantic) ceremony. The marriage was subsequently annulled by act of parliament and caused outrage in London, while drawing mainly shrugs from the hardened folk up north. The kidnapping and marriage was planned with the help Campbell's ally Sir John Johnston (cruel move by his parents there), who was subsequently hanged for his role in the incident. Campbell, however, was never punished and went on to serve for 3 years in the Parliament of Scotland and then 2 years in the House of Commons.
Brydie is an Australian writer and performer living in London and she complains exactly the same amount about the weather as every other Australian living in London. Yes, that is her natural lip colour, no, she will not be taking any further questions at this time.
