The Crown season 5: What was the ‘tampongate’ scandal between Charles and Camilla?

The fifth season of The Crown dropped on Netflix in late 2022 to the delight of fans of the hit series.

The historical drama focuses on the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family from the 1940s to modern times.

Imelda Staunton takes over from Olivia Colman as Her Majesty, which will be the first season to launch following the death of the monarch in September 2022.

The new season will follow the breakdown of Charles and Diana’s marriage, with the couple played by Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki respectively.

It features actor Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, who is outed as Charles’ mistress during the season.

Their secret relationship became public knowledge after the separation of Charles and Diana, with the publication of an intimate telephone call between the two.

But what was said during the infamous “Camillagate” scandal? Here’s everything you need to know.

What was the transcript of the ‘phone sex’ between Charles and Camilla?

Charles and Camilla on their wedding day in 2005

(Getty Images)

Also known as “Tampongate”, a six-minute telephone call between Charles and Camilla was released by The Sunday Mirror in January 1993.

The call reportedly took place in 1989, when both parties were married to other people.

As well as detailing their yearning for each other, it famously included a line in which the former Prince expressed his wish to be a tampon in a bid to be closer to Camilla.

“Mmm. You're awfully good at feeling your way along,” Camilla tells Charles.

“Oh stop! I want to feel my way along you, all over you and up and down you and in and out . . . particularly in and out,” he replies.

“Oh, that's just what I need at the moment,” Camilla says. “I know it would revive me. I can't bear a Sunday night without you.”

Charles goes on to add that he “fills up [Camilla’s] tank”, stating that he “needs [her] several times a week”.

He says: “Oh, God. I'll just live inside your trousers or something. It would be much easier!”

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

Charles replies: “Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck! My luck to be chucked down a lavatory and go on and on forever swirling round on the top, never going down.”

The pair sign off the call by affirming their love for each other, with Charles telling Camilla: “Your greatest achievement is to love me.”

She replies: “I’d suffer anything for you. That’s love. It’s the strength of love.”

What happened after the tape was published?

Diana and Camilla at Ludlow Races in 1980 where Charles was competing

(Getty Images)

The tape sent shockwaves through Buckingham Palace as the pair were both married to other people at the time of the conversation.

It also acted as the catalyst for Camilla’s divorce from Andrew Parker Bowles.

Charles and Diana’s separation was announced in December 1992, while their divorce was finalised in 1996.

In August 1997, Diana was killed in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris after being pursued by paparazzi.

Her partner, film producer Dodi Fayed, also died in the accident alongside the couple’s driver, Henri Paul.

Throughout this time, Charles maintained his relationship with Camilla, and eventually married her in 2005.

Will The Crown feature the infamous telephone call?

Dominic West as Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown

(Netflix)

Yes, one of the episodes of The Crown features the recording and the release of the tape, as well as the reaction to the tape from the royal family.

Elsewhere, Dominic West said that the scandal made him “extremely sympathetic” towards the royals, adding that Camilla was treated very badly.

He told Radio Times: “I don’t think that would happen today. It happened for many reasons, one of them being she’s a woman.

“I remember thinking it was a sordid, embarrassing discussion but, revisiting it, I found it was just an intensely personal conversation, and what was sordid was the prurient interest in it.”

He added: “It’s very sweet, tender and gauche but, like any intensely personal conversation, just not for public consumption.”

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he criticised the media’s involvement in the matter.

He said: “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.”

“I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they’d gone through.”