By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2025-03-30 23:35:10 | Updated at 2025-04-01 18:35:27
1 day ago
The head of Prince Harry’s Africa charity has accused the Duke of Sussex of “harassment and bullying” on a grand scale as she claimed the royal now has a “toxic” brand.
Prince Harry, 40, sensationally quit the Sentebale charity — which he co-founded in 2006 to help young people affected by AIDs in southern Africa — along with his co-founder and all five of its trustees on Tuesday, rather than work with its chairwoman, Dr Sophie Chandauka.
Now the under-fire leader has accused the royal of “unleashing” his PR “machine” on her following the release of his joint statement with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
“The only reason I’m here is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director,” Chandauka told Sky News in an interview on Sunday.
“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their famil[ies]?” she went on. “That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex — contacted through their Archewell foundation, the Sentebale charity and Meghan Markle’s official site As Ever — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Chandauka’s claims were branded as “completely baseless” by a source close to the former Sentebale charity’s trustees, Sky News reported.
The ex-trustees “fully expected this publicity stunt and reached their collective decision with this in mind,” the source added. “They remain firm in their resignation, for the good of the charity, and look forward to the adjudication of the truth.”
Prince Harry tried to “eject” Chandauka from Sentebale, she claimed, as she accused him of being the “number one risk” to the charity. The Duke also demanded the charity share a public message of support for his wife, Meghan Markle, after a polo fundraiser she organized “went badly,” she alleged.
“I said I wouldn’t,” Chanduaka went on. “Not because I didn’t care about the duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”
Asked if Prince Harry was the “number one risk” to the charity, she replied “yes.” She added that many of the charity’s sponsors had walked away around the same time the Sussexes left the UK.
When she asked why, she was told that it was “an uncomfortable conversation to have with Prince Harry in the room.”
Chandauka — who has been chairwoman of Sentebale since 2023 — also accused Prince Harry and co-founder Prince Seeiso of trying to “force a failure” at the charity in a separate interview.
The princes “want to force a failure and then come to the rescue,” she alleged in the interview with the Financial Times.
“The number one risk for this organization was the toxicity of its lead patron’s brand,” she went on.
Her remarks marked the first time she had broken her silence following the joint statement from Princes Harry and Seeiso on Tuesday, accusing her of creating an “untenable situation” at the charity — whose name means “forget me not.”
“The relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation,” the statement read.
“These trustees acted in the best interest of the charity in asking the chair to step down, while keeping the wellbeing of staff in mind. In turn, she sued the charity to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship.”
The UK Charity Commission, a government body which registers and regulates charities, is examining the fallout.
“We can confirm that we are aware of concerns about the governance of Sentebale,” a Charity Commission spokesperson told The Post. “We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”
