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It was one of the biggest royal scandals of the 1990s recently recreated for the latest season of Netflix's hit drama The Crown, the heir to the British throne recorded engaged in a sexually charged leaked telephone conversation with a woman who was not his wife.
The call was secretly recorded and not made public for three years, causing a media storm and public embarrassment for the monarchy, but what is the real story behind King Charles III and Queen Camilla's historic "tampongate" scandal? Newsweek has the answers.
What Was the 'Tampongate' Scandal and When Did It Take Place?
The "tampongate" scandal emerged when a recording of a private phone call between the then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, was leaked to the press.
The call took place in 1989 and was recorded by a radio enthusiast who came across the signal and recognized the callers' voices.
The content of the call contained sexual references, including Charles' commentary that he would like to "live inside" Camilla's trousers and when jokingly asked if he'd "come back" as a pair of "knickers," responded "or, god forbid, a Tampax! Just my luck."
News that the call had been leaked was published in the British press in November 1992, however, a full transcript including the Tampax comment was not published in Britain until the following year.
The scandal broke in January 1993 when the full call was published in Australia, with the transcript engulfing the royals in their second phonecall scandal in 12 months.
In the summer of 1992, a call between Princess Diana and her close friend James Gilbey, which had also been recorded in 1989, was leaked to the press. The tape was named "squidgygate" after a term of endearment used by Gilbey.
At the time of the "tampongate" scandal, Charles and Diana were recently separated but still married, with no official plans to divorce. Camilla's name had come into public consciousness a year earlier, through the bombshell biography by Andrew Morton titled Diana: Her True Story.
Though Buckingham Palace denied it at the time, it was later revealed that Diana had collaborated with Morton on the book project, telling him via recorded interviews about her husband's extramarital affair with Camilla.
The leaked call between Camilla and the prince confirmed their affair as, aside from the sexual references, the couple expressed their love for one another, exchanging terms of deep affection.
The tape's transcript was run by news outlets around the world, bringing yet another public embarrassment for the monarchy who, on top of 1992's "squidgygate" scandal, also endured Sarah Ferguson's "toe-sucking" scandal, Princess Anne's divorce and the great fire of Windsor Castle.
What Was the Reaction to the 'Tampongate' Scandal?
After the full details of the call between Charles and Camilla were published, public scrutiny of the relationship between the prince and Diana intensified, despite having separated three months earlier.
The princess was reported to have taken satisfaction in the public exposure of her husband's affair, though she did not speak publicly about the incident. The first time the royal addressed the subject of Camilla in public was during her 1995 interview with BBC's Panorama in which she delivered her famous "there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded" comment.
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the scandal, as did the prince. At the time, in 1993, the royal family and their links with the media as potential sources of leaks was under scrutiny, particularly when it came to Charles and Diana.
Lord Rees-Mogg, a former newspaper editor, also questioned at the time whether the leaked calls signaled a larger surveillance operation into members of the royal family and whether MI5, the nation's security surveillance body, had any part to play in the recording and leaking of the conversations.
Reputationally, Charles was hit with criticisms of infidelity, something he did not publicly admit until a 1994 television interview, and suggestions that he was not fit to be king.
Charles and Diana remained married until 1996, where a divorce is reported to have been requested by the queen following the princess' Panorama interview.
Following Diana's death at the age of 36 in a Paris car crash, Charles and Camilla eventually married in 2005.
Despite public censure over the perceived mistreatment of Diana, Camilla has become a popular member of the royal family. In February 2022, Queen Elizabeth announced that she wished Camilla to take the title of Queen Consort when Charles inherited the throne.
As a result, when Charles became king in September 2022, there was less than expected public opposition to his wife, once the center of one of the biggest relationship breakdowns of the last century, becoming his queen.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more