The Crown will address King Charles and Camilla’s controversial “tampon” conversation in the upcoming series of the Netflix drama.
“Tampon gate”, as it is widely dubbed, came about after an amateur radio enthusiast recorded a private conversation between the then Prince Charles and his mistress Camilla.
During the call, which took place in 1989, he referred to being reincarnated as the tampon brand Tampax and told Camilla that he wanted to “live inside” her.
Now it’s about to be portrayed in series five of The Crown, according to the Telegraph.
The Crown will address King Charles’ tampon call
The Netflix series has come under fire over the “crass” and “bad taste” decision to include the conversation in season five.
The audio recording, along with a transcript of the six-minute call, was sold to a tabloid and published, causing a huge royal scandal.
Of course, Charles was married to Princess Diana at the time.
However, it’s been claimed the scene will be delivered “sympathetically” in The Crown in a bid to show affection between Charles and Camilla.
It will also attempt to create viewer sympathy at the intrusion into their lives at the time, the paper reports.
The Crown actors react to ‘tampon gate’ storyline
Josh O’Connor, who played Prince Charles in series three and four, refused to portray the phone call.
He said: “When they offered me the role, one of my first questions was – I say questions, I think it was pretty much a statement – ‘We are not doing the tampon phone call,'” he told SiriusXM in 2020.
“[The Crown] was my one chance for my parents to see something [I’ve acted in] with no shame. There’s no way I was going to scuttle that by talking about tampons on Netflix.”
Dominic West, who plays Charles in series five, changed his mind about the conversation.
He originally felt that it would be “sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing” to include.
However, he told Entertainment Weekly: “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.
“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,” he then added.
Olivia Williams, who plays Camilla, admitted her sympathy for the Queen Consort over the scandal.
Both actors said they wanted to “do right” by the royals.
What did King Charles actually say?
The flirtatious recording was leaked to the media.
In it, it’s claimed Charles declares that he wants to “live inside” Camilla’s “trousers or something”.
She is then said to ask him what he was going to “turn in to” and laughs that he wants to “come back as a pair of knickers”.
He is then alleged to have said: “Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck!”
Camilla declares that it’s a “wonderful idea” and laughs as she tells Charles he’s a “complete idiot”.
The Crown streams on Netflix from November 9.
Read more: Intimate secrets of Princess Diana’s romance with Dr Hasnat Khan
So will you be watching? Tell us on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix.