What is "squidgygate"

Squidgygate refers to the pre-1990 telephone conversations between Diana, Princess of Wales and a close friend, James Gilbey, and to the controversy surrounding how those conversations were recorded. During the calls, Gilbey affectionately called Diana by the names "Squidgy" and "Squidge". In the conversation, the Princess of Wales likens her situation to that of a character in the popular British soap opera EastEnders, and expresses concern that she might be pregnant.

In 1992, The Sun newspaper publicly revealed the tapes' existence in an article entitled "Squidgygate", which is a cultural reference to the American Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. The publication of the tapes was a highpoint of the " War of the Waleses" that accelerated the separation and eventual divorce of The Prince and Princess of Wales.

It is thought that the Princess's relationship with Gilbey was at its peak in 1989, suggesting that the tapes had existed for a number of years before publication. There is conjecture that Diana, knowing of the existence of the tapes, instigated contact with the journalist Andrew Morton, resulting in the publication by Morton of the book Diana: Her True Story, and the start of the "War of the Waleses".