None, however, are likely as embarrassing to recall as the event involving Prince Charles and his then-mistress Camilla Parker Bowles that became known as \u2018Tampongate\u2019.<\/p>\n
While the publication of Andrew Morton\u2019s book Diana: Her True Story in 1992 had first brought Charles and Camilla\u2019s affair to light, it was \u2018Tampongate\u2019 (also known as \u2018Camillagate\u2019) that turned their relationship into tabloid fodder around the world, and led to Camilla being vilified in the press.<\/p>\n
But what was the true story of Tampongate, and what was the fallout for the royal family?<\/p>
What was Tampongate or \u2018Camillagate\u2019?<\/strong><\/h2>\nCracks in Prince Charles and Princess Diana\u2019s marriage had begun to show as early as 1987, with tabloids in the UK nicknaming the couple \u201cThe Glums\u201d because they looked so miserable in each other\u2019s presence, but at that time the public was not aware that one reason their marriage was under threat was due to Prince Charles\u2019 long-standing affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.<\/p>\n
However Diana, as we now know, was very aware that Charles was having an affair with Camilla, and in tapes she recorded for her voice coach when she was learning to improve her public speaking, she spoke of confronting her husband\u2019s mistress<\/a> at a party in 1989.<\/p>\n\u201cThe voice inside me had said \u2018just go for it\u2019,\u201d she said in the tapes. \u201cI was terrified of her. I said, \u2018I know what\u2019s been going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that.’\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki in The Crown season 5<\/span><\/figcaption> Keith Bernstein\/Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nIt wasn\u2019t until three years later that the affair became public knowledge with the publication of Andrew Morton\u2019s book, Diana Her True Story in May 1992, but after that bombshell bestseller, more revelations about Charles, Diana and Camilla came thick and fast.<\/p>\n
First, there was the leaked tape recording of a 1989 telephone conversation between Diana and close friend James Gilbey<\/a> that was dubbed \u2018Squidgygate\u2019<\/a> because he called her Squidgy 14 times in it. The phone call had been recorded by a ham radio enthusiast in Oxfordshire named Cyril Reenan, who contacted The Sun once he realised whom he had accidentally recorded chatting.<\/p>\n\u201cWe put the cassette in and listened to it almost mesmerised for 20 minutes,\u201d said the newspaper\u2019s royal correspondent at the time, Stuart Higgins. \u201cThe content was so explosive, we knew we had a major, major story.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Diana\u2019s chat with Gilbey was occasionally revealing \u2013 they blow each other kisses, he calls her \u2018darling\u2019 throughout and she talks about her day (\u201cI was very bad at lunch and I nearly started blubbing\u201d), The Sun initially decided not to publish the story.<\/p>\n
Instead, another recording of the same conversation, made by typist Jane Norgrove, found its way to the National Enquirer, and they finally broke the story in August 1992.<\/p>\n
Tabloid readers may have thought the Squidgygate tape was scandal enough for the royal couple, but just four months later another taped phone call proved to be even more shocking. And that was \u2018Tampongate\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> The Crown season 5<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nIt was a telephone call<\/a> between Prince Charles and his mistress Camilla, who was married to Andrew Parker Bowles at the time. Reportedly recorded using a scanner on December 18th<\/sup> 1989, the six minute conversation includes the future King telling Camilla: \u201cI want to feel my way along you, all over you and up and down you and in and out\u2026\u201d and declaring to her that \u201cyour greatest achievement is to love me.\u201d<\/p>\nThe part of the conversation that remains most memorable, however, was when Charles and Camilla talked about how much they needed each other and he suggested: \u201cI\u2019ll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier!\u201d<\/p>\n
To which Camilla replied: \u201cWhat are you going to turn into, a pair of knickers? You\u2019re going to come back as a pair of knickers!\u201d<\/p>\n
It was then that Charles suggested he could be reincarnated as \u201ca Tampax\u201d, a comment that may have made Camilla laugh, but likely caused them both huge embarrassment when it was printed on newspaper front pages around the world.<\/p>\n
What did it mean for Camilla and Charles?<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn his book, Guarding Diana: Protecting The Princess Around The World<\/a>, Princess Diana\u2019s former protection officer Ken Wharfe wrote of the scandal: \u201cThe backlash was savage. Establishment figures normally loyal to the future King and country were appalled, and some questioned the Prince\u2019s suitability to rule.\u201d<\/p>\nIt was actually Camilla who bore the brunt of much of the public\u2019s hostility towards the couple. She was described as \u201cthe most disliked woman in all of Britain\u201d and there were even reports<\/a> \u2013 denied by the Palace \u2013 that she had bread rolls thrown at her<\/a> by customers at her local supermarket.<\/p>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown<\/span><\/figcaption> Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\nIn 1994, Prince Charles publicly spoke for the first time about Camilla in a TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, confirming he had been in a relationship with her after his marriage had broken down, saying, \u201cMrs Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine\u2026 a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Prime Minister John Major had announced Charles and Diana\u2019s \u201camicable separation\u201d in December 1992, it wasn\u2019t until after Diana\u2019s bombshell-filled Panorama interview in November 1995 that the couple formally agreed to divorce. Camilla and her husband Andrew divorced in March 1995.<\/p>\n
In the years that followed, Camilla stayed silent about her relationship with Prince Charles. Journalist Mary Braid said: \u201cSilence and discretion are Camilla\u2019s trademarks\u201d, and she went on to say that \u201cthis is a woman who once encountered a journalist breaking into her downstairs loo, and who had the contents of a family album, taken without her consent, splashed all over a newspaper\u201d.<\/p>\n
Following Diana\u2019s death in 1997, Camilla remained in the background, supported by Prince Charles and his advisers, and did not make a public appearance as the prince\u2019s partner until 1999, when she was photographed with him when leaving a party at the Ritz hotel in London.<\/p>\n
She finally met the Queen in 2000, which was seen as an official mark of approval, and by 2004 was accompanying Prince Charles on many of his official engagements as public perception of the couple softened. They became engaged in February 2005, and Charles and Camilla were married on 9th<\/sup> April 2005.<\/p>\nThe Crown seasons 1-5 are available to stream now on Netflix<\/a>. Sign up for Netflix from \u00a36.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nLooking for something else to watch? Visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. or more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jo Berry Published: Wednesday, 09 November 2022 at 12:00 am From the devastating fire at Windsor Castle to Princess Diana\u2019s infamous Panorama interview, the new season of The Crown recreates quite a few memorable moments that took place in the royal household between 1992 and 1997. None, however, are likely as embarrassing to recall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25494,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jo Berry Published: Wednesday, 09 November 2022 at 12:00 am From the devastating fire at Windsor Castle to Princess Diana\u2019s infamous Panorama interview, the new season of The Crown recreates quite a few memorable moments that took place in the royal household between 1992 and 1997. None, however, are likely as embarrassing to recall…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cThe voice inside me had said \u2018just go for it\u2019,\u201d she said in the tapes. \u201cI was terrified of her. I said, \u2018I know what\u2019s been going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that.’\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2020\/11\/TheCrownS05Unit-014-8e4e52c.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>It wasn\u2019t until three years later that the affair became public knowledge with the publication of Andrew Morton\u2019s book, Diana Her True Story in May 1992, but after that bombshell bestseller, more revelations about Charles, Diana and Camilla came thick and fast.<\/p>\n
First, there was the leaked tape recording of a 1989 telephone conversation between Diana and close friend James Gilbey<\/a> that was dubbed \u2018Squidgygate\u2019<\/a> because he called her Squidgy 14 times in it. The phone call had been recorded by a ham radio enthusiast in Oxfordshire named Cyril Reenan, who contacted The Sun once he realised whom he had accidentally recorded chatting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put the cassette in and listened to it almost mesmerised for 20 minutes,\u201d said the newspaper\u2019s royal correspondent at the time, Stuart Higgins. \u201cThe content was so explosive, we knew we had a major, major story.\u201d<\/p>\n While Diana\u2019s chat with Gilbey was occasionally revealing \u2013 they blow each other kisses, he calls her \u2018darling\u2019 throughout and she talks about her day (\u201cI was very bad at lunch and I nearly started blubbing\u201d), The Sun initially decided not to publish the story.<\/p>\n Instead, another recording of the same conversation, made by typist Jane Norgrove, found its way to the National Enquirer, and they finally broke the story in August 1992.<\/p>\n Tabloid readers may have thought the Squidgygate tape was scandal enough for the royal couple, but just four months later another taped phone call proved to be even more shocking. And that was \u2018Tampongate\u2019.<\/p>\n It was a telephone call<\/a> between Prince Charles and his mistress Camilla, who was married to Andrew Parker Bowles at the time. Reportedly recorded using a scanner on December 18th<\/sup> 1989, the six minute conversation includes the future King telling Camilla: \u201cI want to feel my way along you, all over you and up and down you and in and out\u2026\u201d and declaring to her that \u201cyour greatest achievement is to love me.\u201d<\/p>\n The part of the conversation that remains most memorable, however, was when Charles and Camilla talked about how much they needed each other and he suggested: \u201cI\u2019ll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier!\u201d<\/p>\n To which Camilla replied: \u201cWhat are you going to turn into, a pair of knickers? You\u2019re going to come back as a pair of knickers!\u201d<\/p>\n It was then that Charles suggested he could be reincarnated as \u201ca Tampax\u201d, a comment that may have made Camilla laugh, but likely caused them both huge embarrassment when it was printed on newspaper front pages around the world.<\/p>\n In his book, Guarding Diana: Protecting The Princess Around The World<\/a>, Princess Diana\u2019s former protection officer Ken Wharfe wrote of the scandal: \u201cThe backlash was savage. Establishment figures normally loyal to the future King and country were appalled, and some questioned the Prince\u2019s suitability to rule.\u201d<\/p>\n It was actually Camilla who bore the brunt of much of the public\u2019s hostility towards the couple. She was described as \u201cthe most disliked woman in all of Britain\u201d and there were even reports<\/a> \u2013 denied by the Palace \u2013 that she had bread rolls thrown at her<\/a> by customers at her local supermarket.<\/p>\n In 1994, Prince Charles publicly spoke for the first time about Camilla in a TV interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, confirming he had been in a relationship with her after his marriage had broken down, saying, \u201cMrs Parker Bowles is a great friend of mine\u2026 a friend for a very long time. She will continue to be a friend for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n While Prime Minister John Major had announced Charles and Diana\u2019s \u201camicable separation\u201d in December 1992, it wasn\u2019t until after Diana\u2019s bombshell-filled Panorama interview in November 1995 that the couple formally agreed to divorce. Camilla and her husband Andrew divorced in March 1995.<\/p>\n In the years that followed, Camilla stayed silent about her relationship with Prince Charles. Journalist Mary Braid said: \u201cSilence and discretion are Camilla\u2019s trademarks\u201d, and she went on to say that \u201cthis is a woman who once encountered a journalist breaking into her downstairs loo, and who had the contents of a family album, taken without her consent, splashed all over a newspaper\u201d.<\/p>\n Following Diana\u2019s death in 1997, Camilla remained in the background, supported by Prince Charles and his advisers, and did not make a public appearance as the prince\u2019s partner until 1999, when she was photographed with him when leaving a party at the Ritz hotel in London.<\/p>\n She finally met the Queen in 2000, which was seen as an official mark of approval, and by 2004 was accompanying Prince Charles on many of his official engagements as public perception of the couple softened. They became engaged in February 2005, and Charles and Camilla were married on 9th<\/sup> April 2005.<\/p>\n The Crown seasons 1-5 are available to stream now on Netflix<\/a>. Sign up for Netflix from \u00a36.99 a month<\/a>. Netflix is also available on\u00a0Sky Glass<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Virgin Media Stream<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking for something else to watch? Visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. or more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Jo Berry Published: Wednesday, 09 November 2022 at 12:00 am From the devastating fire at Windsor Castle to Princess Diana\u2019s infamous Panorama interview, the new season of The Crown recreates quite a few memorable moments that took place in the royal household between 1992 and 1997. None, however, are likely as embarrassing to recall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25494,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/11\/what-was-tampongate-as-seen-in-the-crown-fallout-explained.jpg",1440,960,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jo Berry Published: Wednesday, 09 November 2022 at 12:00 am From the devastating fire at Windsor Castle to Princess Diana\u2019s infamous Panorama interview, the new season of The Crown recreates quite a few memorable moments that took place in the royal household between 1992 and 1997. None, however, are likely as embarrassing to recall…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/10\/the-crown-season-5-charles-camilla-ccf633a.jpeg?quality=90&crop=431px%2C0px%2C2756px%2C1836px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What did it mean for Camilla and Charles?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/11\/TheCrownS05Image106-1a7fd5c.png?quality=90&crop=350px%2C0px%2C2882px%2C1920px&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"