Following Prince Harry’s resignation from the charity he set up in memory of his mother, Princess Diana, one of the organization’s chairs accused the royal of “harassment and bullying at scale.”
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During an interview with Sky News over the weekend, Sentebale chair Sophie Chandauka described Prince Harry’s resignation as an “unleashing of the Sussex machine” against her and the charity employees.
“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 explained. “And can you imagine what the attack has done for me, on me, and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their family? This is an example of bullying and harassment at scale.”
Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho founded Sentebale in 2006. The charity aims to help young people in the southern African nations of Lesotho and Botswana combat various health issues. This includes HIV and AIDS.
The charity was set up to honor Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, and Prince Seeiso’s mother, Queen Mamohato. Both royals have resigned as patrons of Sentebale following a fallout between its chairperson and the trustees.
Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso also told Britain’s Press Association news agency that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board “broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
The royals did not name Chandauka. They stated that Sentebale’s trustees have asked the chair to step down “while keeping the well-being of staff in mind.”
They did not reveal why the chair was asked to step down. However, they noted that the chair sued Sentebale “to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship.”
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Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso noted they plan to share their concerns with Britain’s Charity Commission. The organization’s spokesperson noted it was “aware of the concerns about the governance of Sentebale. It is “assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”
Chandauka also issued a statement. She called out, “People in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct.”
“Beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press,” she stated, “Is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir — and the cover-up that ensued.”
In her Sky News interview, Chandauka did state that her experience with Prince Harry was “fantastic, actually.” They had a “great relationship” in the past.
She noted that some board members “completely disrupted” her meetings. She believes they thought that they could get away with “mistreating a woman.”
Regarding Chandauka’s allegations, former Sentebale trustee Kelello Lerotholi stated he was unaware of the issues.