Before they became Britain’s King and Queen Consort, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles were once embroiled in a scandal so damning that it shook the monarchy to its very core.
In January 1993, a six-minute, 1,574-word transcript of the then Prince of Wales speaking to Camilla four years prior was leaked to the press in a sordid controversy dubbed ‘Camillagate’ or ‘Tampongate’.
During the notorious phone call, recorded while Charles was still married to Princess Diana, Charles, now 77, spoke of wishing to be close to Camilla, now 78, in intimate terms – and even referred to being reincarnated as a tampon.
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Their private conversation was supposedly taped by an amateur radio enthusiast who claimed to have stumbled across their conversation while moving between audio channels, and then sold the recording to a little-known Australian New Age magazine.
On January 17, 1993, the damning transcript hit the front pages and sent shockwaves globally. The ensuing scandal also sparked calls for Charles, then 44, to step down from the succession in favour of his eldest son, then 10-year-old Prince William.
To make matters worse, William and his brother, Prince Harry, then eight, had returned to Ludgrove school from their Christmas holidays just a few days prior.
‘There could be no shielding William and Harry from the ear-nose-and-toe-cringing embarrassment of “Camillagate”,’ wrote royal author Robert Lacey.
The transcript was so catastrophic that after reading the scandalous headlines, Princess Diana reportedly declared with triumph: ‘game, set and match’, according to her former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe.
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In January 1993, a six-minute, 1,574-word transcript of the then Prince of Wales speaking to Camilla four years prior was leaked to the press in a sordid controversy dubbed ‘Camillagate’ or ‘Tampongate’. Pictured: Charles and Camilla seen publicly together for the first time in 1999
Writing in his book, Battle of the Brothers, Mr Lacey claimed that the Princess of Wales ‘leapt joyfully’ at the prospect of William succeeding his father.
‘William is going to be in his position much earlier than people think now,’ the princess allegedly told Andrew Morton.
‘If I was able to write my own script I’d say that I would hope my that my husband would go off, go away with his lady and sort that out and leave me and the children to carry the Wales’s name through to the time William ascends the throne,’ Diana was said to have claimed.
‘The boy should not only seek to be a good king. Now, William must be a better king than his father,’ added Mr Lacey.
When Diana sat down with Martin Bashir for her notorious 1995 interview, the journalist posed how the princess would feel in the event that her son succeeded the Queen ahead of his father.
‘My wish is that my husband finds peace of mind, and from that follows other things – yes,’ Diana responded.
The Princess of Wales was also said to have held the view that her husband should ‘stand aside’ to let William become King because Charles wasn’t up to the job.
In Channel 4 Programme Diana: The Truth Behind the Interview, released in 2020, it was revealed that the princess poured her heart out to former Daily Telegraph editor Sir Max Hastings just three months before her notorious Panorama interview.
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During the notorious phone call, recorded while Charles was still married to Princess Diana, Charles, now 77, spoke of wishing to be close to Camilla, now 78, in intimate terms – and even referred to being reincarnated as a tampon
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On January 17, 1993, the damning transcript hit the front pages and sent shockwaves globally. The ensuing scandal also sparked calls for Charles, then 44, to step down from the succession in favour of his eldest son, then 10-year-old Prince William (pictured)
Reflecting on their meeting in Berkshire 25 years prior, Sir Max said: ‘She said that all she cared about was William’s succession to the throne and she said to me, quite explicitly, “I don’t think Charles can do it”.’
‘The outcome she wanted to see was for Charles to stand aside as heir… and for William to occupy the throne. This was pretty dynamic stuff,’ he added.
There was certainly good reason to believe that there was public backing for such an unprecedented scenario – with a Daily Express opinion poll revealing that 37 per cent of respondents believed that Charles ‘should not succeed if the Queen dies tomorrow’.
Up to seven out of 10 believed that the tapes had caused ‘great damage to the monarchy,’ while 64 per cent reported feeling ‘let down’ by the prince’s actions.
Writing in her bestselling book Palace Papers, royal author Tina Brown revealed that following the release of the tapes, Tampax jokes occupied every comedy show, while cartoon programs even included Charles ‘talking dirty to his plants’.
‘In Italy, they called him Prince Tampacchino,’ Ms Brown revealed – an indication of how the tapes scandal had quickly become global.
Charles and Diana’s young children were also said to have struggled with the interest their school peers had in their father’s ensuing controversy.
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To make matters worse, William and his brother, Prince Harry, then eight, had returned to Ludgrove school from their Christmas holidays just a few days prior. ‘It’s excruciating to imagine what kind of Tampax-related ridicule of his father William endured,’ wrote Tina Brown
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The transcript was so catastrophic that after reading the scandalous headlines, Princess Diana (pictured in 1993) reportedly declared with triumph: ‘game, set and match’, according to her former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe
‘It’s excruciating to imagine what kind of Tampax-related ridicule of his father William endured,’ wrote Ms Brown.
The royal author added that shortly after the release of the notorious ‘Camillagate’ tapes, William ‘regressed in his studies’.
Indicative of his seeming despair at his parent’s marriage decline, the future King was also said to have been ‘involved in a bullying incident against a fellow student because the boy impugned his feuding parents’.
Meanwhile, for Camilla, the onslaught of press intrusion and public interest following ‘Camillagate’ eventually became too much to bear.
In a desperate bid to escape the public interest, Camilla retreated to Middlewick House, the home she shared with her then-husband Andrew Parker Bowles, for a year.
‘She had never felt more isolated,’ added the royal author, with Charles and Camilla said to have stopped communicating altogether due to fears that their telephone calls could be bugged.
Reflecting on her year-long hiatus in 2017, Camilla told Geordie Grieg: ‘I couldn’t really go anywhere. But the children came and went as normal – they just got on with it – and so did great friends.
‘I would pass the time by reading a lot. And after a while, life sort of went on.’
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Camilla’s divorce to Captain Andrew Parker Bowles (both pictured on their wedding day) was finalised on March 3, 1995, followed by Charles and Diana’s divorce the following August
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While the future King sought to win the public over in a 22-year campaign later dubbed ‘Campaign Camilla’, the catastrophic implications of ‘Camillagate’ still hung a dark shadow over the pair, who would eventually wed in April 2005
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In her bestselling book The Palace Papers royal author Tina Brown described how the notorious tapes became subject to ‘the mockery of the world’. The scandal was, she noted, the first time that Charles had ‘nowhere to hide’ when it came to his romantic rendezvous
While Charles and Camilla would eventually return to public life, the ‘Camillagate’ scandal left an irreversible mark on the public’s perception of the pair, with their long-running affair no longer resolved as mere speculation.
Camilla’s divorce was finalised on March 3, 1995, followed by Charles and Diana’s divorce the following August.
However, it would be another four years before Charles and Camilla would be seen publicly together. In front of the eyes of the world’s press, the pair were captured leaving The Ritz hotel in London following a 50th birthday party on January 28, 1999.
It was seen by many as official confirmation of their romance.
But while the future King sought to win the public over in a 22-year campaign later dubbed ‘Campaign Camilla’, the catastrophic implications of ‘Camillagate’ still hung a dark shadow over the pair, who would eventually wed in April 2005.
Describing how the notorious tapes became subject to ‘the mockery of the world’, Ms Brown noted that the historical scandal served as the first time that Charles, heir to the throne, had ‘nowhere to hide’ when it came to his romantic rendezvous.
‘The Camillagate tape robbed the two lovers of any cover at all,’ she explained.
‘The brutal exposure ended any murmuring mystique around the status of “royal mistress” and reduced it to something that sounded furtive and squalid.’
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