A revealing documentary on Princess Diana has sparked a backlash against the Prince of Wales, with viewers taking to Twitter to mock him.
A record audience tuned in last night as Channel 4 aired private video recordings in which Diana, who died in 1997, revealed details of her sex life with Prince Charles.
Diana: In Her Own Words prompted a string of tweets in which people imagined the royal's reaction to seeing the controversial episode of his life back in the limelight.
Janan Yakula tweeted a gif of Homer Simpson emerging sheepishly from a hedge with the caption, "Prince Charles right now".
The documentary peaked with 4.1million viewers and an average of 3.5million, making it the biggest Channel 4 documentary audience in three years.
Kim Walker posted an image of a man peeking over a stone wall, while Will Britt opted for a boy gazing anxiously at the camera.
Meanwhile, @Sonic360 posted a gif of Prince Charles saying "exterminate" in the manner of Dr Whowhile another user published four images of Kermit the Frog and joked "Prince Charles at the palace".
Other viewers labelled Channel 4 "disrespectful", "intrusive" and "tacky" for showing the tapes, but some critics admitted they still watched it and found it intriguing.
The broadcaster had ignored a public outcry and criticism from those who accused it of paying "blood money" for the "deeply personal" recordings.
Although some of the tapes had previously been broadcast in America, it was the first time the footage was viewed by a British audience.
But one Twitter user said: "I can't believe Channel 4 would have the nerve to make these Diana tapes public. They are being very disrespectful towards her memory."
Others said that despite not agreeing with the tapes being broadcast, they struggled to switch it off.
One said: "I'm a walking contradiction. I don't agree with this being showing yet I'm so intrigued in watching it."
Another wrote: "Feel like I'm overhearing a conversation I shouldn't be listening to."
An Ofcom spokesman told MailOnline the watchdog had received two complaints about the programme so far, adding: "We will assess these complaints before deciding whether or not to investigate."
The documentary Diana: In Her Own Words is centred on tapes recorded by her speech coach, ex-Coronation Street actor Peter Settelen, during vocal coaching lessons between September 1992 and December 1993 at Kensington Palace.
A "VERY ODD" SEX LIFE
Diana revealed she met with Charles just 13 times before their marriage. Photo / Getty
The princess speaks candidly and informally about her courtship with the Prince of Wales, her troubled marriage and her "very odd" sex life.
The 20 recordings were uncovered by Scotland Yard when officers raided former royal butler Paul Burrell's flat in January 2001.
The content was regarded as so sensitive that the prosecution agreed not to use them in Mr Burrell's Old Bailey trial which collapsed in 2002.
After a bitter legal row between Mr Settelen, 65, and the Spencer family, headed by her brother, the tapes were returned to the voice coach after it was concluded that he held the copyright.
They have never been aired in Britain despite being broadcast by America's NBC in 2004 and those closest to Diana have maintained that she never believed they would be made public. The recordings were purchased by the BBC but later shelved.
DIANA'S FAMILY TURMOIL
Diana's brother, the Earl Spencer, pleaded with Channel 4 to refrain from releasing the tapes. Photos / Getty
The Queen's former press secretary Dickie Arbiter said Diana had no idea the tapes would ever be made public, and that the content would be incredibly hurtful for her family.
"It is absolutely shameful that these tapes have been made available. It seems that there is sort of grubby blood money running around," he told Sky News last week.
"Whether these tapes are revealing or not, they were recorded in private on the understanding they would remain private and ... Settelen should have thought before giving them to Channel 4.
"Channel 4 should really think deeply, not about ... their ratings figures but about the people and family who are still around who will find this very hurtful."
However, her former equerry defended Channel 4's decision to broadcast the videos.
Patrick Jephson, her private secretary for eight years until 1996, said that he had "better reason than most to know that the princess could be a mercurial and impulsive figure in whom the flame of an angry fire could sometimes burn uncomfortably hot".
Mr Jephson called the recordings "legitimate additions to the historical record" and claimed that they showed Diana "finding her voice".
Channel 4 has defended its decision to show the tapes by insisting that they are a "matter of public record".
Mr Settelen's lawyer Marcus Rutherford said Diana took "every opportunity to tell whoever would listen - including deliberately for publication - what she was going through".
