The chair of the charity Sentebale, co-founded by British Prince Harry to support young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana, has accused him of harassment and bullying on a large scale.
Following a dispute that he described as devastating, Harry recently resigned from his position.
Speaking in an interview with Sky News, Chandauka said referring to the way Prince Harry resigned, “At some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorised the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director.
“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organisations and their family. That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
Sentebale was established in 2006 in memory of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. Harry, along with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and the board of trustees, decided to leave the charity after the disagreement with chair Sophie Chandauka.
As of now, representatives for Prince Harry and Meghan have not provided any comments on the situation. Sky News reported that the couple chose not to respond formally to the interview.
In a joint statement, Harry and Seeiso expressed their sadness over the deteriorating relationship between the charity’s trustees and Chandauka.
Chandauka has previously said Sentebale was beset by poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir.
Harry’s team asked her to protect Meghan after negative media coverage, which she refused to do.
She added that the way Sentebale was run was no longer appropriate in 2023 in a post-Black Lives Matter world funders were asking for locally-led initiatives.
Harry and Seeiso said on Wednesday that the trustees acted in the charity’s best interests in asking Chandauka to step down, but in turn she sued Sentebale to remain in her position.
