The Truth Behind Kings Charles and Camilla's 'Tampongate Controversy' That Left Everyone Astonished

The popular Netflix series, The Crown, touched upon some of the most significant scandals of the royal family. Season 5 of the show followed on this trend by delving deep into the failed marriage between Prince Charles and Princess Diana as well his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, including the Tampongate controversy— an intimate phone call between Charles and Bowles, as per TIME Magazine.

At the time, Charles and Bowles were both married to their significant others. The Tampongate conversation validated Diana's accusations that Charles had been unfaithful to her. The part of the conversation that shocked the nation was when Charles said, "Oh, God. I’ll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier!" In response, Bowles laughed and said, "What...are you going to turn into a pair of knickers? Oh, you’re going to come back as a pair of knickers." Charles interjected, "Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck!" “You are a complete idiot! Oh, what a wonderful idea,” Bowles added.

Royal biographer, Sally Bedell Smith, reflecting on the scandal, opined, "It did him and her a lot of damage. His popularity plummeted and people were questioning his fitness to be king." Howard Hodgson, in his biography of the king, also shared, "He remains deeply ashamed of the embarrassment that he caused his mother, deeply sorry for the pain it caused both his and Camilla’s children," as reported by Harpers Bazaar. Editor Colin Myler chose to discuss his choice to reveal the details of the phone call. He said, "Yes, I will be criticized. Yes, I will be damned...But why should the people of Britain be treated with such hypocrisy and contempt?"

Dominic West, the actor who played Charles in the fifth season, also spoke about the controversy surrounding Tampongate. He stated, "I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing...Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you're conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation." West explained, "What's really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press's attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape. I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they'd gone through."

Tampongate, in a way, also showed the deep affection Charles and Bowles had for each other. Interestingly, The Crown skipped another scandalous phone call that shocked the royal family around the same time. This second call was between Diana and her close friend James Gilbey. Known as Squidgygate, this conversation happened just 14 days after Tampongate and confirmed a clear intimacy between the two. In phone conversation, Gilbey called her by nicknames like Squidgy, Squidge, and Darling, as reported by The Sun. It was also reported that Diana knew Gilbey even before she met Charles.