Prince Harry cost his charity sponsors when he left the UK, chair Dr Sophie Chandauka has claimed as she accuses the Duke of Sussex of “bullying and harassment.” Dr Chandauka said Harry and Meghan Markle’s “Sussex brand” was detrimental to Sentebale, the charity set up by the prince and his Lesotho counterpart in 2006 in honour of Princess Diana’s work to help young people diagnosed with AIDS and HIV. She said she believed donors had abandoned the non-profit because of the negative public perception of the Duke of Sussex during a bombshell interview with Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday morning.
“It was quite obvious to me that we had lost quite a number of corporate sponsors – we’d lost some families and individuals who were donating to the organisation – and there was quite a significant correlation between [that] and Prince Harry’s departure from the UK,” the Sentebale chair said. She added that she had tried to raise the issue of a correlation between Harry and Meghan’s departure from the Royal Family with board members but had been told it would be a “difficult and uncomfortable” conversation to have.
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Sophie Chandauka has accused the duke of “bullying and harassment” (Image: Getty)
Dr Chandauka also described Harry’s release of “a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me” as an “attack” and “an example of harassment and bullying at scale”.
Prince Harry announced his resignation from the African charity earlier this week, with a statement expressing solidarity with Sentebale’s trustees who had quit after a dispite with Dr Chandauka.
The conflict was reportedly sparked by an argument over whether the charity’s fundraising should be based in Africa. The charity’s chair proceeded to sue the organisation in a bid to retain her post, leading to a mass resignation in protest.
“What’s transpired is unthinkable,” Harry said in the joint statement with Prince Seeiso. “We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the Charity Commission as to how this came about.
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“Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care.”
It comes after Dr Chandauka told the Financial Times this week that the “number one risk” to Sentebale’s reputation was “the toxicity of its lead patron’s brand”.
“When you start to interview people, they’re asking questions about, well, these mixed messages around the patron,” she said.
The prince’s reputation began to decline after he quit the royal family and moved to the US with his wife in 2020. The subsequent release of a Netflix documentary based on their decision and a revelatory memoir also caused the couple’s favourability ratings to go down.