Princess Diana Bombshells That Could Be in New Series of 'The Crown'

Princess Diana's bombshell TV interview, a scandalous biography and revelations about affairs are just some of the major developments that may be covered in season five of The Crown.

The fourth season saw Emma Corrin depict the former Princess of Wales enduring private heartache during a lonely and isolated existence at Kensington Palace, while the then-Prince Charles conducted an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Queen Consort.

Diana's own infidelity was also touched upon, alongside her struggles with her mental health and bulimia.

Season five will take viewers into the 1990s, when royal relations descended into open warfare, the likes of which were not seen again until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's exit from the royal family and its aftermath.

The era was known in the British media at the time as the War of the Waleses, and the first shots were fired in a biography that Princess Diana secretly co-operated with.

Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, told Newsweek: "I'm sure it will be Diana-slanted because that's what everybody wants to hear.

"I don't think it will show Charles's side of the story, but maybe it will. I rather doubt it. I think it will be damaging, not necessarily in the U.K. because people know it's only a fictionalized version, but not everyone realizes it's a fiction.

"There's a certain section of the world that have no idea that it's fiction, not fact, and I think that is damaging, but I can't believe they're going to be particularly kind to Charles because they haven't been so far," said Seward.

The new season will air in November 2022, the same month as Charles's birthday, and just two months into his reign, at a time when he is preparing for the release of Prince Harry's memoir.

'Diana: Her True Story'

Journalist Andrew Morton was the first to tell the world about Charles's affair with Camilla in one of the most famous books ever written about the royal family, Diana: Her True Story.

The princess recorded her account of royal life, including her bulimia and several suicide attempts, on cassette tape and smuggled them out of the palace through a friend.

Morton wrote in an updated version of the book, published after her death, how he listened to her jaw-dropping story in a working men's café.

He wrote in a foreword: "It was like being transported into a parallel universe, the princess talking about her unhappiness, her sense of betrayal, her suicide attempts and two things I had never previously heard of: bulimia nervosa, an eating disorder, and a woman called Camilla.

"I left the café reeling, scarcely able to believe what I had heard. It was as though I had been admitted into an underground club that was nursing a secret. A dangerous secret," Morton wrote.

Newer versions also contain transcripts of the Diana tapes themselves, with numerous allegations relating to her mistreatment by Charles.

In just one segment, the princess described confronting Camilla about the affair at a party: "She said to me: 'You've got everything you ever wanted. You've got all the men in the world fall in love with you and you've got two beautiful children. What more do you want?' I didn't believe her, so I said, 'I want my husband.'"

Diana added: "It wasn't a fight—calm, deathly calm—and I said to Camilla, 'I'm sorry I'm in the way, I obviously am in the way and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know what's going on. Don't treat me like an idiot."'

Princess Diana's 'Squidgygate' Scandal

After the book's release, the couple separated, but that was not to be the end of the drama as revelations about the decline of their marriage began to emerge.

A recording of a telephone call between Princess Diana and a friend, James Gilbey, emerged in 1992 and captured the car dealer telling the royal, "I love you," and referring to her as "Squidgy."

Diana told Gilbey he made her go "all jellybags" and that Charles "makes my life real, real torture."

The call was recorded by "radio hams," amateur radio enthusiasts, who stumbled on the exchange while scanning the airwaves.

The tape was passed to U.K. newspaper The Sun, causing a sensation in the British media and serving as a counterpoint to the narrative in Morton's book about Charles's infidelity.

However, the conversation, which took place in 1989, several years before the tapes emerged, sparked theories of a clandestine attempt to smear the princess by British intelligence.

Ken Wharfe, a former police protection officer who guarded Diana, told her inquest years later that he believed that Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had broadcast the recordings over the airwaves.

Charles and Camilla's 'Tampongate' Call

One of the more bizarre episodes in the War of the Waleses is known as "tampongate" and relates to another recording of a private telephone call between Charles and Camilla.

The six-minute call was leaked to the media and a transcript published, which showed Charles suggesting he might be reincarnated as a Tampax, a brand of tampon.

Charles said: "Oh, God. I'll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier."

Camilla replied: "What are you going to turn into, a pair of knickers? Oh, you're going to come back as a pair of knickers."

Charles then said: "Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck," while Camilla added: "You are a complete idiot! Oh, what a wonderful idea."

Producers will have to think seriously about whether to include the saga in the season, however, given the sensitivity of the content.

Josh O'Connor, 32, who played Charles in season four, told Sirius XM: "When they offered me the role, one of my first questions was—I say questions, I think it was pretty much a statement—'We are not doing the tampon phone call.'"

This season, Charles will be played by Dominic West, 52, and it is yet to be seen whether he will have the same policy.

Charles Cooperates With a Biography

Charles put his own royal story into the public domain via conversations with biographer Jonathan Dimbleby for a book titled The Prince of Wales: A Biography.

However, the 620-page doorstop, published in 1994, made uncomfortable reading elsewhere in the palace, too, as it suggested Charles was reduced to tears by his father Prince Philip.

Dimbleby wrote: "Indeed, he [Prince Philip] often seemed intent not merely on correcting the prince but even mocking him as well, so that he seemed to be foolish and tongue-tied in front of friends as well as family.

"To their distress and embarrassment, the small boy was frequently brought to tears by the banter to which he was subjected and to which he could find no retort.

"On occasion, even his closest friends found the Duke's behaviour inexplicably harsh," wrote Dimbleby.

"One remembers that after a paternal reprimand at lunch, 'the tears welled into his eyes with a whole table full of people staying there.... And I thought how could you do that?'"

Charles and Diana's Tit-for-Tat TV Interviews

Charles did a TV interview with Dimbleby for the BBC in 1994, in which he acknowledged his affair with Camilla implicitly on camera.

Dimbleby asked Charles whether he was faithful and honorable to Diana, earning the reply: "Yes... Until it became irretrievably broken down, us both having tried."

In 1995, Princess Diana followed up with her own interview, again with the BBC, but this time with investigative journalist Martin Bashir, who used falsified financial records to coax her into choosing him.

The princess famously told the BBC: "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."

However, Bashir's tactics have rendered the interview controversial these days, and Prince William requested broadcasters not to screen it again.

In May 2021, William said in a statement: "It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.

"It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her."

"It is my firm view," William said, "that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others.

"This settled narrative now needs to be addressed by the BBC and anyone else who has written or intends to write about these events."

Season five of 'The Crown' will air on Netflix on November 9.