The Crown will tackle ‘tampongate’ scandal between Charles and Camilla

Critics have reportedly branded the decision ‘crass’

The Crown will reportedly portray the infamous “tampongate” scandal between Charles and Camilla in the next season.

The scandal refers to a private phone call between Charles and Camilla which was leaked to the press in 1993, in which the couple discuss their intimate relationship.

The now-King Charles and Queen Consort, who were respectively married to Princess Diana and Andrew Parker Bowles at the time of the call in 1989, will be shown as “truly in love” in the upcoming season.

The hit Netflix show has depicted the moment “sympathetically as two young people in love,” and addresses the intrusion into the royals’ personal lives, according to The Telegraph.

But, the depiction of the call has been described as “crass” and “in bad taste” by sources close to the royals, the publication reports.

The Independent has contacted Netflix for comment.

Josh O’Connor, who portrayed a young Prince Charles in series three and four of the show, had previously claimed he all-but refused to take part in scenes addressing 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’,” he told SiriusXM in 2020.

“[The Crown] was my one chance for my parents to see something [I’ve acted in] with no shame and there’s no way I was going to scuttle that by talking about tampons on Netflix,” he added.

Meanwhile Dominic West, who will portray the King in the upcoming seasons of the show, said the scandal made hi, “extremely sympathetic” towards the royals.

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“I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time],” he told Entertainment Weekly.

“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.

“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.”

In 2020, West found himself at the centre of a tabloid scandal after photos emerged of him in an apparent embrace with his The Pursuit of Love co-star, Lily James.

Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales appearing in the fifth season of The Crown (Netflix/PA) (PA Media)

After the photos of West and James were released, he and his wife of 10 years, Catherine Fitzgerald, appeared to put on a united front.

Addressing paparazzi outside of their London home, the couple shared a kiss and placed a handwritten cardboard sign outside their property that read: “Our marriage is strong and we’re very much still together. Thank you. Catherine and Dominic.”

Season five of The Crown will portray the breakdown of the marriage between then-Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. The show has faced controversy from critics such as Dame Judi Dench and former Prime Minister John Major.

Season five of The Crown arrives on Netflix on 9 November.