"Squidgygate" was the The Sun's front page headline on 23 August 1992.
The Sun had been handed the infamous tapes by Cyril Reenan, a retired TSB bank manager, who had recorded them on the home–made equipment that he used to listen in on non–commercial radio frequencies, for his own amusement and that of his wife. Recorded on New Year's Eve 1989, they consisted of a conversation between a man and a woman, covering a range of topics from EastEnders to the strange way in which the Queen Mother looked at the woman.
There was little doubt about Mr. Reenan's suspicions that the woman's voice was that of was Princess Diana; it eventually transpired that the man was James Gilbey, a childhood friend and "sometime beau" who was heir to his family's gin fortune (but at the time was working as a Lotus car salesman). In the tape, Diana expressed concern about whether a recent meeting with Gilbey would be discovered. She also discussed a fear of becoming pregnant. Gilbey referred to her as "Darling" 14 times, and as "Squidgy" (or "Squidge") 53 times.
Thirteen days after its original revelations, The Sun announced that it had been approached in January 1991 by a second eavesdropper: 25–year–old Jane Norgrove. Some experts were of the opinion that it was impossible for two members of the public, working independently, to have recorded this conversation (in which the participants were over 100 miles apart), leading to speculation that the tapes were part of an elaborate plot to discredit the Princess. The plot was allegedly orchestrated by Buckingham Palace, and the tapes broadcast on a loop by GCHQ in the hope that some member of the public would pick them up.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were at the time engaged in pre–divorce proceedings, and each trying to arouse public sympathy. There was speculation that it was because Diana knew about the existence of the Squidgygate tapes that she had contacted the journalist Andrew Morton, resulting in the publication of Morton's book Diana: Her True Story in June 1992.
After the Squidgygate tape hit the headlines, the Australian magazine New Idea reported a taped conversation between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker–Bowles, in whose most sensational passage he wishes he could live inside her trousers. She suggests that he might be a pair of knickers, to which he responds "Or, God forbid, a Tampax. Just my luck!"
The Camillagate tape, as it inevitably came to be known, was subsequently reported around the world. Details were not widely known about in the UK until 17 January 1993, when transcripts were published in the Sunday Mirror and The People.
The Camillagate conversation had taken place on 18 December 1989. Like the Squidgygate conversation, which took place thirteen days later, it had been recorded by "a very ordinary member of the public" (according to Richard Stott, editor of the Daily Mirror).
In October 1994, an intimate biography of Prince Charles, written by the BBC journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, was published, telling how the heir to the throne had been forced into a loveless marriage by his father. Buckingham Palace confirmed that Prince Charles had contributed material to the book, and said he had no regrets.
The rest ... is history.
James Gilbey is also the name of an actor who appeared in EastEnders in 1992 and 1993. He played Jack Woodman, who had a brief relationship with Michelle Fowler and ended up stalking her.
© Haydn Thompson 2017