CHARLES Mountbatten-Windsor has waited seven long decades to be crowned as King.
It is a role that he has waited to occupy longer than any other heir in British history, having waited since his late mother acceded to the throne in 1952 when he was just three years old.
In other words, he’s had plenty of time to notch up a few scandals. And we have compiled a list of some of the most memorable for you.
Behold: King Charles’s biggest scandals…
Tampongate
It may be the scandal most associated with Charles, and was even dramatised on the last season of The Crown.
Tampongate refers to a private phone conversation between Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles which happened in 1989, when they were both still married to their respective spouses.
A full transcript of the call was later leaked to the press three months after Charles and Princess Diana had formally separated in 1993.
There was full audio too, thanks to an amateur radio enthusiast who stumbled upon the chat.
A lot of the conversation centred on how they would next meet at a friend’s house.
But what really got people talking was a segment of the conversation where Charles told his then-mistress he wished he could be reincarnated as a tampon so he could live inside her.
Parker-Bowles said in response: “You are a complete idiot! Oh, what a wonderful idea.”
Tampongate tanked Charles’ popularity— a poll at the time found 42 per cent of people thought Prince William should directly succeed his grandmother.
According to a memoir by Princess Diana’s ex-bodyguard, she said “Game, set and match” when she first saw the story in a tabloid.
Politically neutral?
Given the UK is a constitutional monarchy, the royal family is supposed to be politically neutral and shouldn’t get involved with policy-making decisions.
However, Charles appeared to overstep with a series of policy demands in the form of letters to the then-UK prime minister Tony Blair in the early 2000s.
This included a call to improve equipment for troops fighting in Iraq, as well as the availability of alternative herbal medicines in the UK.
A spokesperson for the then-prince said he was just expressing "concern about issues that he has raised in public," according to The Guardian.
Cash for knighthood scheme
In February 2022, the police launched an investigation into Charles' charity, The Prince's Trust.
The Sunday Times reported that the now King’s close aide, Michael Fawcett, offered a Saudi tycoon a knighthood in exchange for £1.5 million in donations.
The publication reported that Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz paid tens of thousands of dollars to fixers.
They said this could lead to him being awarded an honorary CBE — the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award for those who are not UK citizens.
Bin Laden family donation
Speaking of donations, Charles can’t have thought this would have been received well.
In 2022, it was revealed that he had accepted a payment of £1m from the family of Osama Bin Laden.
The Sunday Times reported at the time that the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund (PWCF) received the money from two of Osama Bin Laden's half-brothers in 2013, two years after the al-Qaeda leader was killed.
Charles also took the money despite objections from advisers at Clarence House and PWCF, according to the Sunday Times, citing multiple sources.
Bin Laden was disowned by his family in 1994 and there is no evidence that his half-brothers had links to his activities.
But still, speak of a PR nightmare!
