Prince Harry has walked away from a charity he helped create after a bitter clash among its leaders.
The Duke of Sussex cost his charity, Sentebale, valuable sponsors when he left the UK, according to its chair, Dr Sophie Chandauka. In a stunning accusation, she’s branded Harry a bully, claiming his and Meghan Markle’s "Sussex brand" has poisoned the organization he co-founded in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. Inspired by Princess Diana’s mission to support young people with AIDS and HIV, Sentebale is now reeling, and Dr Chandauka points the finger squarely at Harry. Speaking on Sky News with Trevor Phillips on Sunday, she revealed that donors—corporations, families, and individuals—ditched the charity as Harry’s public image took a nosedive.
“It hit me hard,” Dr Chandauka said. “We lost a slew of corporate sponsors, plus some key families and individual donors, and it lined up almost perfectly with Prince Harry’s exit from the UK.” She’d tried flagging this link between the Sussexes’ royal departure and the sponsor drop-off to the board, only to be brushed off with warnings that it’d be “too awkward” to discuss.
Dr Chandauka didn’t stop there. She called out Harry for blindsiding her with “damaging news” released to the public without a heads-up, labeling it an “attack” and a glaring case of “harassment and bullying on a grand scale.”
Harry confirmed his resignation from the African charity earlier this week, issuing a statement alongside departing trustees who’d clashed with Dr Chandauka. The rift reportedly ignited over where Sentebale’s fundraising should be based—Africa or elsewhere. Things escalated when Dr Chandauka sued the charity to cling to her role, triggering a wave of resignations in protest.
“What’s happened is beyond belief,” Harry said in a joint statement with Prince Seeiso. “We’re stunned we’ve had to step away, but our duty to Sentebale’s beneficiaries hasn’t changed. We’ll be laying out all our worries to the Charity Commission about how this mess unfolded. We may not be patrons anymore, but we founded this, and we’ll never lose sight of what it can do with the right leadership.”
This drama follows Dr Chandauka’s blunt warning to the Financial Times that the “top threat” to Sentebale’s reputation is “the toxic vibe of its main patron’s brand.” She explained, “When you talk to people, they’re asking about these confusing signals tied to the patron.”
Prince Harry’s public standing started crumbling after he and Meghan quit royal life in 2020 and relocated to the US. Their Netflix documentary and his revealing memoir didn’t help, tanking their popularity further. Now, the Charity Commission is stepping in, confirming it’s reviewing “concerns about Sentebale’s governance” to figure out what’s next.
