What exactly is "Camillagate"?
What inappropriate things did Prince Charles say about Camilla Parker Bowles' pants?
And how did Princess Diana react to the scandal?
The phone conversation that ended Camilla's marriage is definitely shocking.
Before they exchanged sordid comments down a telephone line, Prince Charles and Camilla
Parker Bowles were just two young people in love.
The prince reportedly first met Camilla Shand at a polo match in 1970.
The two started dating, but it's unclear how serious the relationship was meant to be.
At the time, Camilla was reportedly hoping to get back at her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Parker
Bowles, who had been linked to Charles' sister, Princess Anne.
During an appearance at Henley Literary Festival, royal biographer Penny Junor explained,
"So when [Camilla] was introduced to Charles [...] he thought she was a bit of alright
and she thought 'Andrew is at the moment off with Princess Anne [...] I’ll teach Andrew
a lesson.'"
Sadly, Camilla and Charles split up when the prince went out on an assignment with the
Royal Navy.
After their breakup, Prince Charles and Camilla ended up married to other people.
After marrying on July 4, 1973, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles welcomed two children
together, Tom and Laura.
Meanwhile, Prince Charles first met Princess Diana in 1977 while he was dating her older
sister.
"Well I remember thinking what a jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was."
Charles and Diana started dating in July 1980, and the prince proposed in February 1981.
The pair married on July 29, 1981, in a wedding that was televised to 750 million people worldwide.
They went on to have two children together, Princes William and Harry.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles reportedly rekindled their affair around 1986.
In Andrew Morton's biography, "Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words," the princess
revealed that she became aware of the relationship, and decided to confront Camilla about it.
As Diana told Morton,
"I said: 'I know what’s going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know
that.'
And she said: 'Oh, it's not a cloak and dagger situation.'"
However, an illicit phone call between Charles and Camilla would quickly make their affair
very public.
In 1989, Charles and Camilla were secretly
recorded engaging in a very intimate phone call.
The recording seemed to make it clear that Charles and Camilla were in a sexual relationship
that had been going on for some time.
In an uncomfortable exchange, Charles even told Camilla that he'd like to become a pair
of trousers or a tampon so that he could be closer to her.
When a transcript of the phone call leaked to the press a few years later, it pretty
much put an end to both of their marriages.
Howard Hodgson, author of "Charles: The Man Who Will Be King," revealed that the prince
feared he would never live the scandal down, writing,
"He knows that people not sympathetic to him or the monarchy will recall it at the time
of his coronation and at all other meaningful moments in his life."
As a result, Charles reportedly continues to be plagued by how the scandal has impacted
his family members, with Hodgson revealing in his biography of the prince,
"He remains deeply ashamed of the embarrassment that he caused his mother, deeply sorry for
the pain it caused both his and Camilla's children."
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles could not go anywhere without seeing stories about
their infamous phone call for weeks following the release of the transcripts in 1993.
At the time, the Los Angeles Times even speculated that the phone call could prevent Charles
from ascending the throne following his mother's reign.
It was reported that Camilla and Charles sounded as if they had been conducting their relationship
for years at the time of the recording, which only further fueled speculation.
However, the release of the transcript pointed to a much bigger issue, with some suggesting
that the monarchy itself might be unknowingly under surveillance.
Discussing the incident, Lord Rees-Mogg told the BBC,
"I think one has to ask whether it was done as part of the security screening and whether
what has happened is that the Royal Family were being taped as part of MI-5's (Security
Service) operation."
Following the release of the raunchy phone call, it wasn't long before Charles and Camilla
decided to end their respective marriages for good.
In January 1995, Camilla and Andrew Parker Bowles shared a joint statement announcing
their separation.
Meanwhile, Prince Charles and Princess Diana had announced their separation in December
1992, though their royal divorce took much longer to work through.
At the time, a statement from Buckingham Palace said,
"The fact is that, with great sadness, they have recognized that their continuing relationship
would be better under separate domestic arrangements.
They are still fond of one another and fully supportive of one another's intentions to
fulfill their individual public duties as wholeheartedly as before."
"Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
Charles and Diana's divorce was finalized on August 28, 1996.
In the divorce settlement, Princess Diana reportedly received a lump-sum payment of
approximately $22.5 million, in addition to $600,000 per year for the maintenance of her
office.
Following his divorce from Princess Diana, Prince Charles took his relationship with
Camilla Parker Bowles from the phone line to the public eye.
In 1997, the pair celebrated Camilla's 50th birthday with a big party at Charles' home,
and their romance was anything but secret.
However, tragedy struck on August 31, 1997, when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash
in Paris.
Her sudden death shocked people all over the globe.
While the world mourned Princess Diana, Charles and Camilla tried to keep their relationship
under wraps.
After keeping a relatively low-profile, The Guardian reported in 1998 that Camilla had
been introduced to Charles' sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
However, the queen didn't warm to Camilla quite as quickly, and she was reportedly unhappy
when Camilla threw Charles his 50th birthday party.
Eventually, everyone seemed to come around to the idea of Charles and Camilla as a couple,
and they married in April 2005.
But no-one's ever forgotten that fated phone call.
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