Prince Harry accused of intimidation by the president of Sentebale

One of Prince Harry’s charitable organizations has become the center of controversy.

On March 26, Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho announced that they are resigning as a Sentebale bosses, a charity they co -founded in 2006.

The couple said in their announcement that it was “devastating” that they had to resign and stressed the problems with the organization’s chair, Sophie Chandauka, as a reason for their resignation.

A few days later, Chandauka accused Prince Harry of “harassment and bullying on a scale” in an interview with Sky News.

Trouble Sentebale

When founded, Sentebale was aimed at supporting children and young people living with HIV or AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana. In 2024, he widened his mission to help young people more generally in southern Africa.

The princes have confused the organization in honor of their late persons and have maintained a close relationship for decades. Prince Seeiso even appeared in the Netflix documentary centers “Harry & Meghan” in 2022.

Harry and Seeiso have been sentebale patrons for almost 20 years, Harry frequently going to Africa to support the organization.

However, in recent months, tensions have met between the Sentebale and Chandauka board of directors, which was appointed president in July 2023. Chandauka, lawyer and founder of Biotechnology, had previously been a member of the Sentebale board of directors from 2009 to 2015, according to the organization’s website.

Five former sentebale administrators said in a shared statement with Business Insider that they “had made the difficult decision to resign unanimously”, adding that they had not seen “no other way to follow following our loss of confidence and confidence in the chairman of the board of directors”.

“Our priority has always been, and will always be, which is in the best interest of the charitable organization, and it is desperately sad that the rupture of the relationship has increased to a trial by the president against the charitable organization, from preventing us from voting it after our request for resignation has been rejected,” said the administrators. “We could not in all conscience allow Sentebale to undertake this legal and financial burden and we had no other option than to leave our positions.”

CBS News said the administrators asked Chandauka to resign due to “a change in the Sentebale mission”. On Tuesday, the BBC also said that financial problems had led to the organization.

Harry and Seeiso announced their resignation in a joint declaration “supporting and solidarity with the board of directors”.

“It is devastating that the relationship between the trustee of the charitable organization and the chairman of the board of directors was broken down, creating an untenable situation,” said their press release. “What is happening is unthinkable. We are in shock that we must do, but we have a continuous responsibility towards the beneficiaries of Sentebale, so we will share all our concerns with the Charitable Commission on the way it happened.”

“Although we are no longer customers, we will always be its founders and we will never forget what this charity is able to achieve when it is in good care,” said princes.

Chandauka declared in a shared statement with the people she refused to resign at the request of the board of directors because “under all the story and fiction of the victim who were unionized to make the press is the story of a woman who dared to denounce the questions of bad governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, intimidation, harassment, misogyny, misogymoir – concealment as what happens. “

Chandauka did not respond to a request for BI comments.

The New York Times also indicated that Chandauka had replaced the board of directors with four new members following resignations and lodged a report against the former fiduciaries of the charity, which regulates and records charitable organizations in England and Wales, including Sentebale. Harry and Seeiso declared in their declaration that they also intended to make a report to the Commission.

Contacted by BI for this history, the charity commission said: “We can confirm that we are aware of the concerns about Sentebale governance. We assess the problems to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”

A source close to the trustee told Bi that the Council “expected this advertising and had made their collective decision with this.

Then, last weekend, Chandauka accused Harry of “intimidating” him by making public problems public.

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Sophie Chandauka said Prince Harry had “intimidation”

Sunday, Chandauka appeared in the Sky News program “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” to discuss Sentebale, focusing on Harry in his interview – even if Seeiso and the members of the board of directors also resigned.

Chandauka declared in the interview that his relationship with the prince had been largely “fantastic” but accused him of “harassment and intimidation”. More specifically, she said that he had not informed her of his decision to resign as a boss before him and Seeiso publicly published their declaration.

“At one point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a new damaging to the outside world without informing me or my directors of countries or my executive director,” she said. “Can you imagine what this attack did for me, on me, and the 540 individuals from the Sentebale organizations and their family?”

“This is an example of large -scale harassment and intimidation,” said Chandauka, adding that she thought Harry activated “the Sussex machine” to publicize the problems of Sentebale.

A familiar source with the events told BI that despite the comments from Chandauka, Harry and Seeiso had sent their common resignation letter to the administrators and the president on March 10.

In the same interview, Chandauka also said that she had problems with Prince Harry since she became president and believed that he had been trying to avoid her for months.

She said that her decline as Royal Senior has put a sentebale at financial risks and that her Netflix series on Polo interfered with a collection of charity of Sentebale, showing a change of place. However, a source close to production said that the program’s participation has finally led to another participating player and that Sentebale is presented in the Docuseries.

Chandauka also said that the unexpected attendance of Meghan Markle had become a problem during the match. The cameras filmed a delicate interaction between her and Meghan while they were trying to sit on stage during a award ceremony, which led to negative press stories on Meghan. Chandauka told Financial Times that Harry asked him to publish a statement of his wife at the time, but she refused.

“I said no, we do not define a precedent by which we become an extension of the Sussex PR machine,” she said at the exit.

Tuesday, Chandauka remains president of the Sentebale board of directors.