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Royals' intimate chats caught on tape
Call interception an old problem for House of Windsor – and 'who on earth else?' The interception of Royal phone calls has long been a problem for those who hail from the House of Windsor.
From "Camillagate" to "Squidgygate", private intimate conversations between HRHs and the objects of their affection have, over the years, found their way into the newspapers.
Tame news of Prince William's knee problems discovered via voicemail pale into significance compared to the explosive contents of bugged chats of old.
The Prince of Wales, his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, and his second, the Duchess of Cornwall, have all been unwitting subjects of phone tapping. In 1993 a recording of an excruciatingly intimate hour-long late-night call between Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, as she then was, was made public.
Dubbed "Camillagate", the tape was made in December 1989 but it took fours years for the details to surface.
During the candid conversation, the Prince was allegedly heard telling Mrs Parker Bowles he would like to "live inside" her trousers like a tampon.
Excerpts were available to hear on a telephone hotline and full transcripts of the conversation were published in Australia.
There were claims at the time that MI5 was behind the tape or even experts acting for Diana, but it was said the recording was made by a radio enthusiast using a hi-tech scanning device.
The Press Complaints Commission said it "deplored" the publication.
The previous year a call by Princess Diana hit the headlines. She was allegedly recorded talking to a mystery man – later identified as her close friend, bachelor James Gilbey.
The tender words on New Year's Eve 1989, recorded by a radio ham, were uttered while Diana was staying with the Queen at Sandringham.
Named "Squidgygate" or "Dianagate", the conversation featured Mr Gilbey allegedly calling Diana by the pet name Squidgy and telling her repeatedly: "I love you."
Diana is also allegedly heard saying that her husband "makes my life torture" and expressing fears she was pregnant.
Retired bank manager Cyril Reenan later admitted recording the conversation using a radio scanner and selling it to a national newspaper. He said he stumbled across it by accident and recorded it to prove to his wife that he had heard Diana.
Diana is thought to have believed on a number of occasions that she was being bugged and had her flat professionally checked.
"Squidgygate" was followed swiftly by "Fergiegate" in which the Duke and Duchess of York were alleg-edly recorded discussing their marriage problems
The argument was apparently picked up in 1990 using a 300 scanner by a man living near the Navy base of Portland, Dorset, where the Duke was stationed.
In May 1981 a telephone engineer in Sydney was said to have recorded four affectionate long-distance calls between Charles, on an offic-ial tour of Australia, and his fiance Lady Diana Spencer.
A British journalist obtained them but Royal sol-icitors are said to have managed to prevent them being published in this country.
Prince Harry discovered in 2004 that his Eton art teacher Sarah Forsyth had secretly taped a face to face – rather than phone – conversation with him. She claimed it showed he had cheated in his exam.
The allegations against Harry were not proven and although she won her unfair dismissal claim an employment tribunal criticised her conduct.
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