‘Toxicity’ Claims Denied, Management Failures Blamed

• The chairwoman of Prince Harry’s charity Sentebale is talking out towards the Duke of Sussex after he, his co-founder and the board of trustees resigned
• A supply near trustees and patrons on the charity has acknowledged that her claims are “baseless and probably defamatory”
• Prince Harry arrange Sentebale to help younger individuals affected by HIV alongside Prince Seeiso in 2006 in reminiscence of each of their late moms, together with Princess Diana

Prince Harry’s charity, Sentebale, is embroiled in a bitter dispute between its chairwoman, Dr. Sophie Chandauka, and former patrons and trustees.  

In an interview with the Monetary Occasions on Saturday, March 29, Sentebale chair Dr. Sophie Chandauka, who took on the function in July 2023, claimed that Harry and his co-founder Prince Seeiso — who resigned as patrons of the group earlier this week — needed “to power a failure after which come to the rescue.”

Nonetheless, a supply near the patrons and trustees tells PEOPLE that their choice to exit the charity was primarily based on Chandauka’s dealing with of the charity’s funds. (In response, a consultant for Chandauka beforehand informed PEOPLE: “Firstly, like a lot of the content material circulated yesterday, lots of info being shared is unfaithful and defamatory in nature.”)

The supply provides: “The trustees tried to barter this privately and requested she think about her place because of their lack of belief and confidence in her as a pacesetter, as demonstrated by the monetary place she put the charity in.”

“They absolutely anticipated this publicity stunt and reached their collective choice with this in thoughts,” the supply provides. “They continue to be agency of their resignation for the great of the charity and stay up for the adjudication of the reality.”

Elsewhere within the interview, Chandauka claims that public backlash following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal exit harm the charity’s skill to safe new donors and recruit senior workers.

“The No. 1 danger for this group was the toxicity of its lead patron’s model,” Chandauka, a Zimbabwean company finance lawyer, informed the outlet.

In response, the supply argues that Sentebale had been closely reliant on Prince Harry’s involvement — notably by means of occasions just like the Sentebale Polo Cup, the place sponsors have been attracted by his participation — and that the Duke of Sussex had donated $1.5 million from his memoir Spare.  

In keeping with Chandauka, a key turning level for the group allegedly got here when tensions arose between herself and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at a polo occasion benefiting Sentebale in April 2024. A viral second that seemingly confirmed Meghan shifting Chandauka away from Harry for a photograph after he received a match generated damaging consideration for Meghan, and the prince allegedly requested Chandauka to publicly tackle the incident.

“I mentioned no, we’re not setting a precedent by which we turn out to be an extension of the Sussex PR machine,” Chandauka informed the Monetary Occasions of the incident.

The supply who spoke with PEOPLE insists that the dispute stems from governance considerations, not private grievances. They keep that they “solely ever need the reality to be shared.”

Chandauka additionally accused the charity’s board of “misogyny and misogynoir,” or misogyny towards Black ladies, for a way they handled her as a pacesetter.

The supply calls Chandauka’s claims of intimidation, racial bias and gender discrimination “baseless and probably defamatory,” citing one other trustee, Dr. Kelello Lerotholi, who denies witnessing such habits.

In one other interview with Sky Information, which is about to air in full on Sunday, March 30, Chandauka claimed to have skilled “harassment and bullying at scale” after Harry and others left the group.

“The one motive I’m right here … is as a result of in some unspecified time in the future on Tuesday, Prince Harry licensed the discharge of a harmful piece of stories to the skin world with out informing me or my nation administrators, or my government director,” Chandauka informed Sky Information’ Trevor Phillips.

“And might you think about what that assault has completed for me, on me and the 540 people within the Sentebale organizations and their famil[ies]?” she continued. “That’s an instance of harassment and bullying at scale.”

The Duke of Sussex, 40, and Prince Seeiso, 58, introduced on March 26, that they have been stepping down as patrons of the charity.

After the board of trustees requested Chandauka to resign, she introduced a lawsuit towards the charity, which helps younger individuals in southern Africa. The Charity Fee, primarily based within the U.Ok., confirmed they’re investigating.

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Prince Harry arrange Sentebale alongside Prince Seeiso in 2006 in reminiscence of each of their late moms. The Duke of Sussex noticed it as persevering with the legacy of Princess Diana, who campaigned to assist these with AIDS.

“With heavy hearts, we have now resigned from our roles as Patrons of the group till additional discover, in help of and solidarity with the board of trustees who’ve needed to do the identical. It’s devastating that the connection between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down past restore, creating an untenable state of affairs,” the princes mentioned partly on the time.

“…What’s transpired is unthinkable. We’re in shock that we have now to do that, however we have now a continued accountability to Sentebale’s beneficiaries, so we can be sharing all of our considerations with the Charity Fee as to how this happened.”