The phrase “class and elegance” was once the staple of royal PR, reserved for poised portraits and carefully worded tributes. But on Twitter, where memory is long and sarcasm is currency, those words have reignited ridicule instead of reverence.
It all started with a tweet that labeled King Charles and Queen Camilla as “the epitome of class and elegance.” For many, that statement clashed violently with history. “They really think we all have miraculously forgotten the career side piece and the tampon era,” one user shot back, referring to the infamous “Tampongate” scandal.
The 1993 leaked phone call between then-Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, in which Charles fantasized about becoming her tampon, remains one of the most bizarre and humiliating episodes in modern royal history. The conversation was explicit, awkward, and impossible to un-hear. Yet somehow, decades later, royal commentators now tout Camilla as a stabilizing force and paragon of dignity.
Social media users are having none of it.
“You can’t rebrand adultery into aristocracy,” one tweet summarized. Others highlighted Camilla’s role in the disintegration of Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana. “She spread her legs WIDE OPEN for a MARRIED MAN. Just because you marry your mistress doesn’t make her classy,” one bluntly stated.
Criticism wasn’t limited to history. Users brought up recent moments too—like Camilla taking off her shoes in the street and handing them to Charles while on a state visit, or awkward physical interactions caught on camera. Every gesture that didn’t align with the constructed narrative of regal poise was offered up as counter-evidence.
One tweet mocked the Crown’s dramatized redemption arc: “They think The Crown is the real world where they successfully rewrote ‘The Great Tampon Love Story’ & demonized Princess Diana.”
Many tweets echoed a shared frustration: not necessarily with Charles and Camilla’s personal choices, but with the double standard in how they’re publicly treated. Women of color like Meghan Markle have been vilified for far less. “Two people who obviously love each other post a video and the RF is outraged,” one tweet said, drawing a clear line between the indulgent forgiveness of Charles and Camilla and the relentless criticism Meghan has faced.
Another added: “Didn’t she give him a blowjob on the day of his wedding to Diana? Class & elegance, my arse!”
Users also questioned how the British press could weaponize decorum against some royals while conveniently forgetting the actual scandals of others. The implication: whiteness and aristocratic lineage are shields against reputational collapse.
The tone is raw, often vulgar, but there’s insight under the mockery. For many, it’s not about relitigating old affairs but rejecting attempts to erase or rewrite uncomfortable facts in the name of tradition. In the age of receipts, nothing stays buried for long.
Camilla’s rebranding—from reviled mistress to Queen Consort—has been one of the boldest PR transformations in modern monarchy. And perhaps that’s the real trigger: the public has watched a woman go from being the “other woman” to being crowned, while another woman—Meghan Markle—was pushed to the margins despite doing everything “right.”
In the end, what Twitter is rejecting isn’t just Charles and Camilla’s history—it’s the idea that power can whitewash anything, even tampons.
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