Squidgygate

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Squidgygate refers to the intimate phone conversations between Diana, Princess of Wales and her close childhood friend James Gilbey, as well as the controversy over how those conversations were bugged. During those calls, Gilbey affectionately nicknamed Diana by the nickname "Squidgy" (or "Squidge"). In an interview, the Princess of Wales compared her situation to that of a character from the popular British soap opera EastEnders and expressed concern about a possible pregnancy on her part.

In August 1992 the daily newspaper The Sun made the existence of the tape recordings public in an article with the significant headline "Squidgygate" (originally called "Dianagate"), a reference to the American Watergate affair of the 1970s . The publication of the tape recordings meant a prelude to the so-called " War of the Spouses of Wales" ( English War of the Waleses ), a war of the roses , which accelerated the separation and subsequent divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

In view of the fact that tape recordings were known to have existed for several years before their publication, the relationship between Princess Diana and Gilbey was at its peak in 1989. Diana was well aware of the existence of the tapes and secretly sought contact with journalist Andrew Morton , which finally led to the publication of Morton's scandalous biography Diana: Her True Story in mid-June 1992 , and thus ushered in the "War of the Welsh Spouses".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerard Goggin: Cell Phone Culture: Mobile Technology in Everyday Life . S. 129 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ↑ Tina Brown: Diana: The Biography . S. 276 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).

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