Inside The ‘Camillagate’ Tapes That Exposed Prince Charles And Camilla Parker Bowles' Affair

One month after Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated in 1993, the “Camillagate” tapes emerged to confirm Prince Charles’ secret affair with his then mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. The tapes exposed one of the secret bedtime chats that the Prince of Wales had with Camilla while he was still married to Princess Diana.

What happened between Prince Charles and Princess Diana during the 1990s was one of the most publicized scandals in the history of the royal family. Princess Diana left the palace after years of unhappy marriage to Prince Charles, who allegedly was having a secret affair with his ex at the time. A month after the Prince and Princess of Wales officially announced their split in 1993, a set of tapes came to the surface to confirm the allegation.

Dubbed as “Tampongate,” the “Camillagate” tapes included a recording of a six-minute bedtime conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla in 1989, back when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were still married. A transcript of the recording was published by People on Jan. 17, 1993, under the headline “Charles And Camilla — The Tape” and exposed Prince Charles talking about wanting to be Camilla’s tampon.

“Oh, God, I’ll just live inside your trousers or something,” Prince Charles told Camilla. “It would be much easier!”

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

“Or, God forbid, a Tampax,” Prince Charles replied. “Just my luck!” The Prince of Wales joked about being a box of tampons for Camilla.

After the recordings were leaked to the press, there was no way Prince Charles and Camilla could deny their affair any longer. The royal household was reportedly very upset about the exposé, and Princess Diana described it as “sick.” Princess Diana’s personal protection officer revealed that the Princess of Wales was so disgusted by the whole thing and could not believe that her estranged husband talked about tampons with another woman while they were still together.

“She told me that she had been genuinely shocked by some of the baser comments, particularly the Prince’s tampon reference,” Princess Diana’s officer said. “‘It’s just sick,’ she said repeatedly.”

Apparently, the scandal was not enough to keep Prince Charles off the throne. Although his popularity significantly dipped after the scandal, the monarchy still managed to survive. Twelve years after the tapes shocked the world, Prince Charles and Camilla tied the knot.