By the late 1980s, Prince Charles had resumed his long-standing relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. However in January 1993, the British tabloids were rocked by the publication of a six-minute telephone conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, recorded in December 1989. The conversation, which was never intended for public ears, contained intimate and suggestive remarks, including Charles’s infamous joke about being reincarnated as a tampon if he had to be reincarnated as an item of Camilla’s clothing, lamenting that his bad luck would be to end up being flushed down a toilet. This revelation, dubbed ‘Tampongate’ by the media, occurred shortly after Charles and Princess Diana’s formal separation, casting a long shadow over the royal family.
