An embarrassing conversation about tampons and a phone call scandal involving Princess
Diana? "The Crown" got some things totally wrong. Spoilers for "The Crown" Season 5.
So, did King Charles III really give Camilla, Queen Consort, a bracelet the night before his
wedding to the late Princess Diana? The answer is, in short, is yes. However,
"The Crown" took liberties when portraying scenes about the bracelet.
"I had the bracelet made as a farewell gift. A souvenir."
In the Season 4 episode "Fairytale," Diana discovers a design for the bracelet,
which Charles was going to give Camilla as a way to end their relationship for good.
As royal historian Hugo Vickers told Insider, although this event did happen in real life,
the show skipped over the true meaning behind the bracelet. According to Vickers,
the bracelet was engraved with a "G" and an "F," which stood for "Girl Friday,"
Charles' nickname for Camilla. However, in "The Crown," Camila reveals to Diana that her and
Charles' nicknames for each other were "Fred" and "Gladys," which was represented on the jewelry.
"It's my nickname for the Prince of Wales, and he calls me Gladys. It's harmless nonsense, really."
"Hm, right."
Nonsense indeed: Vickers confirmed that this
interaction between Camilla and the late Lady Diana was complete fiction.
In 1992, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially announced their separation. However,
the version of events that led to the couple's split was a little
different from the depiction shown in "The Crown."
In Season 4, Netflix recreated Princess Diana's trip to the United States,
including her visit to New York City, where she attended the Brooklyn Academy of Music
during its 1989 Royal Gala. However, the show suggested that Charles asked
for a divorce after Diana's trip, several years before they broke up in real life.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers wrote in his analysis, "The Crown Dissected,"
"Camilla is who I want.
That is where my loyalties lie."
While it makes for a dramatic scene,
it's highly unlikely that this conversation took place, especially at that time. Vickers explained,
King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, are not exempt from controversy, as Season
5 of "The Crown" demonstrates with Tampongate. Based on truth, the tampon conversation occurred
in 1989 during an incredibly private phone call between Charles and Camilla. The call,
which had been secretly recorded, was sold to the press, and a transcript was published
in 1993. The call took place when Charles and Camilla were both still married to other people,
and featured some seriously cringeworthy intimacy. For instance, Charles joked that
he wanted to be reincarnated as Camilla's tampon so he could live in her trousers.
“Mrs. Parker Bowles is a dear friend of mine, a wonderful friend that I'm jolly lucky to have."
As awkward as the scene in "The Crown" might be, it's all accurate. However,
"The Crown" completely brushed over Princess Diana's real life phone call scandal, which
took place just 14 days after Tampongate. Diana was recorded speaking to her friend James Gilbey,
who affectionately referred to the princess as "Squidgy," giving the impression the two
were having a romantic relationship while she was married to Charles. In the call, Diana even
complained to Gilbey about Charles, saying that he made life torturous. However, the most scandalous
part of their conversation occurred when Diana seemed worried about potentially getting pregnant,
which suggested she may have been cheating on Charles, while he cheated on her with Camilla.
"The Crown" is known for exaggerating scenarios in the lives of the royal family,
and that includes the timeline of the love triangle involving King Charles III,
Camilla Parker Bowles and Princess Diana.
"The Crown" suggests that Charles and Camilla's relationship took place throughout the entirety
of Charles and Diana's marriage, but that is not the case. According to royal biographer
Sally Bedell Smith, in her book "Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of
an Improbable Life," Camilla and Charles did pick up their romance in 1979. At the time,
Camilla was married to Andrew Parker Bowles, and had been since 1973. However, Charles was not
yet married and, according to Smith, the affair ceased for a time when Charles married Diana.
"You're not going to lose any woman. You're the Prince of Wales."
According to People, the affair between Charles and Camilla didn't pick up again until 1986,
about five years into Charles and Diana's marriage. It was during this
time that Diana confronted Camilla about the affair,
and the princess revealed in Andrew Morton's "Diana: Her True Story - In Her Own Words,"
"The Crown" Season 3 featured a royal family rumor that is yet to be factually proven. Of course,
Season 3 took viewers back to the beginning of Charles and Camilla's relationship,
and includes one of their early breakups, before Charles married Princess Diana. The Netflix show
ran with the popular rumor that several members of the royal family forced Prince Charles to
break things off with Camilla by shipping him off to the Navy on a military assignment.
Lord Mountbatten, Charles' godfather, was especially unhappy with the prince's
relationship with Camilla. Instead, he reportedly wanted Charles to marry his granddaughter. In
cahoots with Charles' grandmother, the Queen Mother, Lord Mountbatten used his
connections in the military to deploy the prince, giving Camilla space to continue
her engagement with the British Army officer Andrew Parker Bowles. Speaking to People,
royal expert Robert Lacey revealed that it may have been possible for Mounbatten to pull some
strings, but that the Queen Mother would not have been involved. According to Lacey,
Mountbatten and the Queen Mother allegedly loathed one another in real life.
Additionally, royal historian Hugo Vickers said that no such meeting between the Queen Mother,
Camilla's family, and Camilla's soon-to-be in-laws
occurred. Writing in his book "The Crown Dissected," Vickers explained,
Fiction or not, there's no denying that it all makes for compelling drama.