I mentioned back in the season-premiere recap how there was some skepticism when it was announced that Dominic West would play Prince Charles for The Crown’s final two installments. West himself says he nearly turned down the role, in part because he doesn’t look like Charles and also because his predecessor Josh O’Connor’s award-winning portrayal was intimidatingly good. But this episode’s handling of a delicate storyline and West’s willingness to go there (not to mention his ability to pull it off) demonstrates how the actor was a great choice to take over this particular era of Charles after all.
Of course, I’m talking about Tampongate (sometimes referred to as Camillagate).
It wasn’t a sure thing that The Crown would even mention Tampongate. (I know it seems like a major thing to overlook, but the series has skipped over other noteworthy incidents, such as Princess Anne’s 1974 kidnapping attempt.) The former Charles wanted no part of it. In 2020, O’Connor told SiriusXM’s EW Live he refused to be involved in any depiction of the scandal: “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.’â€
O’Connor’s reticence is totally fair — obviously, actors should establish and assert their boundaries — but it also speaks to the lingering stigma around what was a virtually innocuous private phone call. Luckily, the previous season ended before it got to the point in the timeline when the controversy occurred in 1993, so there was still hope it would be featured in The Crown… and West came through! Plus, while O’Connor was seriously brilliant, it’s hard to imagine him pulling this conversation off in the same way as our current Charles, who frankly plays as dirtier and more adult. (West has made a career out of playing very messy men and doing it well.)
We get a tease of the call at the beginning of the episode, but what we see is relatively tame (Charles says the bed that Camilla’s on top of is “lucky,†while Camilla tells the prince he excels at feeling his way around.) Three years later, though, when the conversation is made public, the episode flashes back and grants us an extended look at the particular exchange that had people clutching their pearls.
Sure, some of the language is a bit cringey (I do not need to hear any man say “press the tit,†even in jest), but the scene’s directed, acted, and edited in a way that captures, in hushed tones, how intimate the conversation was. It plays as sweet, silly, and, I daresay, yes, even kind of sexy.
It’s perhaps worth noting that the actual call wasn’t just some incredibly brief, impromptu softcore phone sex, though that’s what the public fixated on and sensationalized. There’s much more to the conversation, and the pair organically discussed other things for quite some time: motorway routes, plans to reconnect, Charles’s next speech. A ridiculously long portion of the call is their saying good-bye to each other but not wanting to hang up. (I’ve included it at the end of this recap because it is truly absurd.) Their devotion to each other is undeniable; at one point, Camilla says loving him is “easier than falling off a chair,†he points out the way she suffers because of it, and she says she’d suffer anything for him: “That’s love.â€
One of the most valuable qualities of this series is its ability to provide added context and perspective on news stories we may have misjudged or heard about in oversimplified terms. (Granted, it’s able to do so because it’s a work of historical fiction, but still.) The Queen’s real “annus horribilis†speech touched upon the benefit of distance and hindsight when judging events and how time encourages more compassion and wisdom — again, something that feels core to The Crown’s ethos. It’s easy to be reductive and say Charles wants to be a tampon (LOL), but there was much more to the conversation that makes it feel cute and genuine rather than weird and sordid, as it played at the time, and The Crown’s invented context helps paint a fuller picture of the infamous historical incident.
Indeed, when Anne brings meds to Charles, who on top of everything is nursing a cold, she provides a valuable outlook on the call and its release. While she thinks many of her brother’s past problems have been self-inflicted, no one deserves this invasiveness and cruelty. The princess royal jokes about being grossed out by the transcript, but admits it also touched her to see how human and in love he and Camilla are, describing them as “two teenagers of a certain age.†The prince deserves credit for being able to express that, says Anne, especially considering the family he was born into.
As the episode winds down, we see Charles giving a speech to a sea of youths, most of them minorities. “You might think someone of my age and background wouldn’t understand young people in your communities and the unfair judgments of society that you sometimes face,†says Charles. “As it happens, I do understand a little bit about what it is to be criticized and judged. And I also know that those judgments are mostly not true.â€
If it weren’t for the moody music, this would all feel like a bit much — it’s giving political-campaign-video vibes. (See the smiling black and brown faces! Oh, look, there’s a lone woman in a hijab!) But given what he’s accomplished through the Prince’s Trust (which, we’re told via title card, has helped 1 million disadvantaged young people), it’s not exactly unearned or self-serving. And while Diana was always deservedly heralded for reaching out to those rejected by society, this shows that Charles, despite a stuffy, straitlaced upbringing, has opted to prioritize some unorthodox, modern approaches (e.g., the Dimbleby interview) and underserved audiences, too.
I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised by this episode, and not just because I’m glad they went there with the phone call. I do think Charles is over-villainized. (In a nutshell, sure, he made a lot of bad calls in his first marriage, but, as The Crown illustrates, it was one he was pressured into pursuing and maintaining. And while Charles is still often defined as an adulterous husband, he’s been in love with Camilla for more than 50 years.) But mine’s not a popular opinion to have! I’m unsure whether The Crown’s general audience will be onboard for such a sympathetic portrayal of the man. Love him or hate him, we can all laugh as the prince tries to breakdance with some b-boys — a thing that, once again, may feel a bit heavy-handed until you realize that it really happened.
As promised, I leave you with an excerpt from the infamous Charles-Camilla phone-call transcript that I feel is actually its most obscene part (can’t see why this didn’t make the cut):
CAMILLA: Bye. I do love you.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: Night.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: Love you forever.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: G’bye. Bye, my darling.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: Night, night.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: Bye bye.
CHARLES: Going.
CAMILLA: Bye.
CHARLES: Going.
CAMILLA: Gone.
CHARLES: Night.
CAMILLA: Bye. Press the button.
And that’s not even where it ends!!!
Royal Diary
• There were some nice touches involving the family card-game scene at the Parker-Bowles residence. The timing and editing of “Laura, have you been cheating again?†as Camilla goes to chat with Charles did not go unnoticed. And watching Charles attempt to make small talk with Camilla’s then-husband, Andrew, is painful (but also shows he was taught manners).
• When the Queen asks them to confirm their decision to officially separate, Diana — who once backtracked on this — looks for Charles to respond first, as if she’s still hoping they can somehow make it work.
• I still don’t understand what an amateur radio enthusiast is. A fancy name for a pervy eavesdropper?
• “It was a little … gynecological for my taste.â€
• As much as I sympathize with and defend Camilla and Charles in this gross invasion of privacy, it is worth acknowledging how hard it must have been for Diana and Andrew to withstand as well. Imperfect and human as they all were, there were still four casualties here.
• Elizabeth Debicki could wear a trash bag and still look chic and gorgeous, but for some reason, while its re-creation nailed the features that made it so exciting at the time (off-the-shoulders, mini length, black and body-hugging), I felt Diana’s revenge dress here didn’t have the wow factor it did in real life. It might just be an issue of the color grading or lighting choices made (which is hard to manipulate on an outdoor shoot!). In photos, the original dress seemed such a deep, inky black that there was little detail (e.g., ruching) decipherable outside of the silhouette — you could get lost in it, and many of us did.
• This episode makes a point to highlight Charles in the garden — a small nod to his prioritization of environmental issues and other green pursuits.