Here's a Look at 5 Most Controversial Life Moments of King Charles III
5 Most Controversial Life Moments of King Charles III
King Charles III ascended the British throne upon his mother's death on 8 September 2022. Charles became the 73-year-old monarch-in-waiting and the longest-serving monarch-in-waiting in British history. On May 6, 2023, he was crowned in the first coronation in seven decades. Charles wed Lady Diana Frances Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer's daughter, on July 29, 1981. However, his personal life has been rocked with controversial moments famously after marrying the late Princess of Wales and his secret affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Let's examine some of the most contentious events in his life that still grab headlines.
1. The Awkward Royal Engagement Interview With Princess Diana
Prince Charles, who was then 32, and Princess Diana, then 19, announced their engagement on February 24, 1981. The stylishly coy royal couple posed for the paparazzi and gave a short interview. However, Charles left Diana 'traumatized' for life with his cringe-worthy remark during the Q&A session, when a journalist asked the happy couple, "You both look very much in love," to which Diana replied, "Oh, yes. Absolutely." Charles, however, answered, "Whatever 'in love' means". What followed next was an awkward moment of silence. Then the journalist further complimented them saying they looked like "two very happy people," Charles said "Yes" and Diana replied, "As you can see." As per Harper's Bazaar, Although the late Princess of Wales laughed off the situation she later confessed that it was traumatizing. “Charles turned around and said, ‘Whatever in love means,’ and that threw me completely,” she revealed in a personal recording with her voice coach, which was shown in the 2017 documentary Diana: In Her Own Words. “I thought, ‘What a strange question — uh, answer.’ God, absolutely traumatized me,” the princess added.
2. Tampongate Scandal
It is common knowledge that despite their best efforts to hide their adulterous romance, Charles and Camilla were deeply in love with one another. A startling controversy known as "Tampongate" surfaced in 1993 after The Sunday Mirror published a six-minute audio exchange between the lovers from 1989. It not only described how much they missed each other, but it also included a famous phrase where the former Prince said he wished he could be a tampon to be nearer to Camilla. “Mmm. You're awfully good at feeling your way along,” Camilla tells Charles in the leaked tape. “Oh stop! I want to feel my way along you, all over you and up and down you and in and out . . . particularly in and out,” he replies. “Oh, that's just what I need at the moment,” Camilla says in the recording. “I know it would revive me. I can't bear a Sunday night without you.” Charles goes on to add that he “fills up [Camilla’s] tank”, stating that he “needs [her] several times a week”. Camilla laughs: “What are you going to turn into, a pair of knickers? Oh, you're going to come back as a pair of knickers.” Charles replies: “Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck! My luck to be chucked down a lavatory and go on and on forever swirling round on the top, never going down.”
3. Confessing His Infedility
When Charles spoke to Jonathan Dimbleby, his official biographer in 1994, two years after he and Diana had split up, the then Prince of Wales' shocking confession of adultery for the first time on video shocked the country and infuriated Prince Philip. As per The Guardian, Dimbleby asked Charles if he had tried to be “faithful and honorable” to his wife. To which Charles replied: “Yes, absolutely.” “And you were?” asked Dimbleby. “Yes,” Charles replied, before adding: “Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried.”
4. The Taj Mahal Photo Op
Perhaps the most iconic moment in Charles and Diana's marriage would be their lone portraits in front of the Taj Mahal, a symbol of love. The late Princess of Wales is well-known for her solitary photo shoot at the Taj Mahal in February 1992, when she and Prince Charles declared their intention to make "new memories" on their journey. Charles on the other hand had posed alone in front of the famed wonder in 1980.
5. Prince William's Surgery
Although Prince William now jokes about his 'Harry Potter Scar' it was a serious golf injury in 1991. "I call it [my Harry Potter scar] because it glows sometimes and some people notice it — other times they don't notice it at all," William said of the mark back in 2009, to The Daily Mail. "I got hit by a golf club when I was playing golf with a friend of mine," William confessed. "We were on a putting green and the next thing you know there was a seven-iron and it came out of nowhere and it hit me in the head." The young prince had to undergo an emergency surgery during which Diana was present but Prince Charles stayed absent.
