King Charles and Camilla's most controversial moment to be depicted in 'The Crown'
King Charles and Camilla's most controversial moment shocked the whole planet back in 1989 but actors claim it's depicted with 'sympathy'
The scandal of King Charles and Camilla's infamous saucy phone call, known as 'Tampongate', will feature in the hit Netflix series. Content of the unauthorised recording was headline news back in 1989, when their extra marital affair was often in the tabloids.
- 'Tampongate' became one of the most infamous news reports regarding then Prince Charles' relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles while both were still married to their exes.
- Dominic West, who plays King Charles, claims that filming the scenes made him, "extremely sympathetic toward the two of them."
- In other royal news, Camilla's unimpressed reaction to Princess Charlotte and Prince George's bickering at Queen's funeral revealed
One royal expert may claim that The Royal Family has, "no one to blame other than themselves," for The Crown, but for some critics the Netflix series has gone too far. Just when you thought The Crown season 5 couldn't possibly garner any more controversy - news that they're due to feature 'Tampongate' will surely horrify fans.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, actor Dominic West discussed playing Charles, then Prince of Wales, and how his perception of events changed in relation to this particular scandal. "I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time]," he said. "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."
The private conversation in question was recorded by an amateur radio enthusiast who, per the Daily Mail, "claimed to have stumbled across the pair's conversation while moving between audio channels."
"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," added Dominic. "I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they'd gone through," admitted the actor.
What was Tampongate?
In 1993, only three months after the formal separation of King Charles and Princess Diana, the People newspaper printed Charles and Camilla - the tape. The article included the entire transcript of a private intimate conversation between then Prince of Wales Charles and Camilla.
The conversation had been recorded after an amateur radio enthusiast came upon it entirely by accident while using a hi-tech scanning device. Esquire reports that the six-minute-long recording detailed the pair's longing and desire for each other including an infamous moment where Charles suggested he'd like to 'live inside' Camilla's trousers. After she jokingly asked if he was, "going to turn into, a pair of knickers" he responded, "Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck!"
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Despite the obvious intrusion into their private lives, the story is due to feature in the upcoming series of The Crown.
Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.
Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.
Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.
Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.
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