Of course, the leaked conversation - which was apparently recorded by an unknown amateur radio enthusiast who stumbled upon Charles and Camilla’s call while fiddling with his high-tech homing device - caused an instant scandal which circulated around the world and was dubbed both ‘Tampongate’ and ‘Camillagate’.
At the time, Charles and Camilla’s public images were severely damaged and many said that Tampongate proved Charles wasn’t fit to ever be king.
However, The Crown’s recreation of Tampongate, paints the private conversation between Charles and Camilla in an endearing, romantic light rather than a controversial one.
Dominic West, who portrays Charles in The Crown’s latest season, spoke about recreating Tampongate with Entertainment Weekly and even said that his own thoughts on the scandal had changed after filming.
“I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time].”
“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,” Dominic 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.”
You can watch season five of The Crown now on Netflix.