The allegations against Prince Harry in Sentebale charity dispute

Telegraph

30-03-2025

Prince Harry is facing a string of fresh allegations after the head of his African charity launched a scathing attack in her first broadcast interview.
The Duke of Sussex stepped down as the patron Sentebale on Tuesday as a toxic row engulfed the charity he co-founded to help children with HIV.
Sophie Chandauka, the charity's chairman, has accused the Duke of 'harassment and bullying' and has claimed he tried to use the charity as 'an extension of the Sussex PR machine'.
In an interview with Sky News's Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme, Ms Chandauka described in detail how matters had come to a head and explained why she had decided to speak out.
In one of the most startling claims, Ms Chandauka alleged there had been an attempted cover up, accusing the Duke of being 'involved' in an effort to oust her after she complained of 'misogyny' and 'harassment and bullying at scale'.
She said: 'It was me who was the problem because I put a whistleblower complaint about the bullying, the harassment and the misogyny and Prince Harry interfered in the investigation of that. So it's a cover up - and the Prince is involved.'
Ms Chandauka claimed problems arose in the way the charity functioned because nobody had the courage to speak out against Prince Harry.
She said at meetings he would often raise topics that were not on the agenda but suggested other members of the board were too frightened to challenge him.
Citing one example she said the Duke had hired someone to join the board without consulting anybody else.
'His proxy on the board says, yes, I second that motion,' she said. 'The third proxy on the board says, 'welcome to the board Brian' and everybody's shocked and quiet, but this is what happens when the Prince is in the room and no one has the courage to speak.'
'Harry costing charity sponsors'
Ms Chandauka described how on another occasion the Duke had announced that he wanted to bring the camera crew for his Netflix show to record at the charity's Polo Challenge in Miami. But she said he had not sought to clear it with anyone else first.
In one of the most significant claims, Ms Chandauka suggested that Prince Harry's decision to leave the UK had cost the charity sponsors.
She said there was 'quite a significant' correlation between a number of 'major organisations' abandoning the cause and Prince Harry's reputation following his move to the United States.
But she said senior executives glossed over the matter because 'the instruction was, it's [an] uncomfortable conversation to have with Prince Harry in the room'.'
'Bullying'
Ms Chandauka also claimed she had been a victim of bullying and alleged that the Duke had wanted to 'eject' her as Sentebale's chairman 'for months'.
She said 'bullying and harassment' had taken place during this time, and that she had documentation to prove it.
'There were board meetings where members of the executive team and external strategic advisors were sending me messages saying, 'Should I interrupt? Should I stop this? Oh my gosh, this is so bad',' she said.
Ms Chandauka claimed Prince Harry and his team had even tried to pit sponsors she had been negotiating with against her.
She said she believed they were hoping to force her out by ensuring that her fundraising efforts were unsuccessful.
'Extension of Sussexes' claim
The charity boss used the broadcast interview to reiterate claims that she had been asked to release a statement 'in support' of the Duchess of Sussex, following an incident at a charity Polo match.
The awkward moment, which was captured on camera last April, took place during the annual Sentebale Polo match in Miami, when the Duke captained the winning team.
As the players and their partners gathered on the podium for a post-match photograph, Meghan appeared to instruct Ms Chandauka to move away from the Duke as he celebrated his win.
The Duchess was filmed asking the Zimbabwe-born lawyer, who stood on Prince Harry's right, to move to her left side away from her husband, as he kept his arm tightly around his wife, forcing her to duck under the trophy to switch position.
Ms Chanduaka said Meghan had attended without telling the organisers she would be there.
'We're excited about it, we would have been really excited [of] we know ahead of time, but we didn't, and so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage,' she said.
'The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.
'Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the duchess and I said I wouldn't, not because I didn't care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one.
'And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.'
Despite the damaging claims, Ms Chanduaka insisted the charity would live on even though the Duke had decided to step down as its patron.
Asked whether Sentebale has a future without Prince Harry, she replied: 'Absolutely, Sentebale has a future. We must stop infantilising Sentebale: Sentebale is 19 years old, Sentebale is here because of the people in Africa who do the work every single day.
'Prince Harry visited Africa for the first time in five years when I asked him to last year. Who do you think was running the show during the pandemic, before the pandemic and after the pandemic?
'Sentebale will live, Sentebale will live on because of the people.'