Sentebale chair Dr Sophie Chandauka said the Duke had unleashed the ‘Sussex [PR] machine’ on her
The chair of a charity set up by the Duke of Sussex in memory of his mother has accused him of “harassment and bullying at scale” after he resigned from the organisation earlier this week.
Sentebale was founded in 2006 by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to support young people and children in southern Africa, particularly those living with HIV and Aids.
On Tuesday, Harry and several trustees announced their departure from the charity over a dispute with the chairwoman of the board, Dr Sophie Chandauka, having requested her resignation.
Speaking to Sky News, Dr Chandauka accused the Duke of initiating a campaign against her by “unleashing the Sussex [PR] machine.”
She said: “The only reason I’m here… is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorised the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director.
“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organisations and their family?
“That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
In an interview with the Financial Times, also published on Saturday, Dr Chandauka said she was asked by Harry’s team to protect the Duchess of Sussex from negative media coverage, which she refused to do.
She also said the way Sentebale was run “was no longer appropriate in 2023 in a post-Black Lives Matter world… funders were asking for locally-led initiatives”.
Sky News reported that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had declined to respond to Dr Chandauka’s comments, but a source close to the former Sentebale trustees is said to have described her claims as “completely baseless”.
According to The Times, the dispute between Dr Chandauka and the trustees arose over a decision to focus fundraising in Africa.
In a joint statement earlier this week, the Duke and Prince Seeiso backed the departing trustees and said they too had resigned as patrons until further notice.
They said the trustees had acted in the charity’s best interests in asking Dr Chandauka to step down, but that she sued Sentebale to remain in her position.
In response, Dr Chandauka appeared to criticise Harry for going to the press, adding that there had been been “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir” at Sentebale.
She also claimed she had reported the trustees to the Charity Commission and that the High Court had issued an emergency injunction to prevent her removal.
Harry spent two months in the kingdom of Lesotho during his gap year when he was 19 in 2004, which inspired him to establish the charity two years later, which now also works in Botswana.
The Duke visited Lesotho and the Prince as recently as last October.
He was also pictured with Dr Chandauka at a charity polo event in Florida in April 2024 to benefit Sentebale.
Former trustees Timothy Boucher, Mark Dyer, Audrey Kgosidintsi, Dr Kelello Lerotholi, and Damian West released a statement saying their decision to resign was “devastating” but the “result of our loss in trust and confidence in the chair of the board”.
The Duke and Prince Seeiso said they would be “sharing concerns” with the Charity Commission.
Sentebale said it had not received resignations from either of the royal patrons and that the “recalibration of the board is part of Sentebale’s ambitious transformation agenda”.
Harry’s role at Sentebale was one of a small number of private patronages he retained after his departure from the working monarchy in 2021.
The Charity Commission said it is “aware of concerns about the governance” of Sentebale.
“We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps,” the commission said in a statement.
Additional reporting by agencies