I was trying to save her face in a way.' However, having thought on it 'for a day, at least', Reenan decided that he 'would not get to see Diana.' So he 'rang the Sun instead.' Publication Reenan claimed that he had been so worried by the evident security breach that he had first thought of attempting to gain an audience with Diana: 'I could have used a code-word, perhaps the nickname Squidgy. I was stuck with it, and I was frightened of it,' he was quoted as saying, claiming that if the paper had told him that 'the tape was 'dangerous', I would have burned it or scrubbed it out.' Reenan was quoted as saying he was 'so nervous I just want you to take the tape away.' He added, 'I didn't know what to do with it once I'd got it. Two days later the journalists were shown round Mr Reenan's home-made eavesdropping studio, in which 'Above the scanners was a 1960s-style tape recorder with a microphone dangling down above the scanning equipment so that the couple could tape 'interesting' conversations'. Reenan played them excerpts from a tape without having previously told them what he had recorded. Reenan, a 70-year-old retired manager for the Trustee Savings Bank, regularly listened in on non-commercial radio frequencies for amusement with his wife. In January 1990, two reporters from The Sun newspaper met Cyril Reenan in the parking bay of Didcot railway station, six miles from his home in Abingdon, England.

The tape was published after it was accidentally recorded by a retired bank manager who was a radio enthusiast. The publication of the tapes was a highpoint of the media attention which surrounded the marriage, separation and eventual divorce of the Prince and Princess of Wales. 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.

During the calls, Gilbey affectionately called Diana by the names 'Squidgy' and 'Squidge'. In 1992, The Sun publicly revealed the tapes' existence in an article titled 'Squidgygate' (the ' -gate' suffix being a reference for a scandal). Squidgygate or Dianagate refers to the pre-1990 telephone conversations between Diana, Princess of Wales and a close friend, James Gilbey (heir to Gilbey's Gin) which were published by The Sun newspaper.

Intercepted telephone calls involving Princess Diana

Princess diana book tapes