The chair of a charity co-founded by Prince Harry to support young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana has accused him of "harassment and bullying at scale" after his recent resignation, described by him as "devastating."
Harry, the younger son of King Charles, co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana. He stepped down along with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and the board of trustees following a dispute with chair Sophie Chandauka.
In an interview with Sky News, set to air in full on Sunday, Chandauka stated that on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging announcement without informing her, her country directors, or her executive director. "Can you imagine what that attack has done to me, to the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their families?" she remarked, calling it an example of "harassment and bullying at scale."
Representatives for Harry and his wife Meghan did not respond immediately to the allegations, and the couple declined to offer a formal response to the interview.
A source close to the charity's trustees and patrons, including Harry, suggested they anticipated this as a publicity stunt and made their decision to resign with that in mind, reaffirming their stance.
In a joint statement, Harry and Seeiso expressed regret that the relationship between the charity's trustees and Chandauka had become irreparable. Chandauka had previously described Sentebale as experiencing issues related to "poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, and misogynoir."
In a separate interview with the Financial Times, she revealed that she was asked by Harry's team to protect Meghan from negative media coverage, a request she declined. She also noted that the management of Sentebale was "no longer appropriate in 2023 in a post-Black Lives Matter world," as funders were looking for locally-led initiatives.
Harry and Seeiso stated that the trustees acted in the charity's best interests by asking Chandauka to resign, but she subsequently took legal action to retain her position.