'Prince Harry should stop being the victim': Queen's press secretary urges 'impulsive' duke to 'write his own script' because people are 'tired' of how he thinks 'world is against him'
Ailsa Anderson was at the Queen's side for 12 years as her press secretary and worked 'very closely' with Her Majesty's grandson before he met Meghan Markle.
Speaking to a new documentary about Harry's 'terrible' 2025, Ms Anderson has said he is a 'very warm, engaging and kind person' who has lost his way and needs to shed his victim mentality.
In a message directed at the Duke of Sussex she said: 'Stop being the victim and start being the hero of the piece, start writing your own script. I think people are just getting a little bit tired of how Prince Harry thinks the world is against him and how awful his life is'.
Ailsa, who worked for the Queen between 2001 and 2013, says that the exiled prince is 'too impulsive' and has also unwisely made public private matters about his family, including King Charles ' health.
She said: 'I think trust is paramount in every walk of life, if you can't trust your family, who can you trust?'.
Charles and William will fear that if they were to welcome Harry back, 'private information would then be leaked', she said.
Channel 5's documentary Prince Harry: My Terrible Year was broadcast on Saturday night. On it experts have suggested that they believe that Harry does want reconciliation with his family but his 'ego' is in the way.
Psychotherapist Emma Reed Turrell said: 'Reconciliation is absolutely possible with moments of accountability and responsibility on both sides.
She said in a message for Harry: 'Stick a pin in your ego for a moment and focus not on being right, but being in a relationship. There needs to be forgiveness on both sides.'
It came after The Mail on Sunday revealed that Prince Harry is planning to outflank the boardroom rival who accused him of bullying by launching a new African children's charity.
Last week, a Charity Commission probe found 'no evidence' to support Sentebale chairman Dr Sophie Chandauka's allegations of bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir – discrimination against black women.
But historian Tessa Dunlop said that Sentebale scandal had been very damaging to Harry.
'I'm sure they (Sussexes) are not always easy to work with. She [Dr Sophie Chandauka] weaponised Prince Harry's own words used against him, suggesting Harry has been a malevolent influence on the direction of the charity'
She added: 'We're also still talking and writing about Harry, I think there is one thing worse than writing and talking about him, and that's us going silent. Maybe he can find a new mission.'
The Duke of Sussex last week walked away from Sentebale following a damning report into an explosive race row.
But sources say he is determined to continue the work of the charity, which he co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 in honour of their mothers.
'The Duke is anxious that the fight against poverty and Aids in Lesotho and Botswana carries on,' said an insider.
'He and Prince Seeiso are keen to work together on a new venture. They are talking about setting up a new charity or clubbing together to support other existing charities doing similar work in the region.'
The MoS has learned that Harry has now upped the ante by issuing a formal complaint about Dr Chandauka's conduct, accusing her of 'recycling' unfounded claims.
A letter to the commission from his office notes that since the investigation, Dr Chandauka had revisited 'serious, highly-charged and damaging allegations'.
It said the claims 'directly impact' his other charity work, adding: 'Ms Chandauka continues to publicly recycle these claims, this time beneath the guise of clarification, all while leveraging the charity's public platform to do so.
'This conduct appears to directly contravene your warning about the risks of airing internal disputes in the media and seems to constitute an ongoing misuse of charitable resources for the pursuit of personal vindication.'
Despite rejecting the bullying claims, the Charity Commission found problems in Sentebale's governance and rebuked 'all parties' for allowing the dispute to play out in public.
However it said Dr Chandauka and the board could remain in place – a decision that left the Duke devastated and complaining of a 'hostile takeover'.
This newspaper can now reveal startling new details of the background to Dr Chandauka's 2023 appointment.
In an email to fellow board members, she requested $3,000 (£2,200) a day for her time, claiming this represented 'a very significant compromise/pay cut' as she typically charged £2,500 for 60-minute speaking engagements.
A source said it raised eyebrows among trustees and was in 'stark contrast to the selfless, pro bono spirit in which most serve'.
In the event, the Zimbabwean-born lawyer eventually agreed to work pro bono.
Other emails show she was originally turned down for the role of chairman, but launched 'an all-out pressure campaign' for a formal explanation for her rejection.
She eventually got the job, with Harry at the time hailing her appointment.
The first hint of trouble came in April 2024, when the Duchess of Sussex ushered the charity boss to the centre of a stage at a polo match.
Dr Chandauka said that because a clip of the awkward interaction went viral, Harry invited her to make a public statement in support of his wife.
She refused, saying the charity 'cannot be an extension of the Sussexes'.
But it was a disagreement over fundraising and a £400,000 bill for consultancy work that caused the relationship to sour further.
In March, Harry and Prince Seeiso, plus some trustees, resigned. A statement said the relationship with Dr Chandauka was 'broken', 'beyond repair' and 'untenable'.
On Saturday, it was reported the Lesotho children's centre run by Sentebale has been 'effectively mothballed' amid a funding crisis – until recently, some 700 children with HIV attended its camps.
In a statement after the commission's report, Sentebale said: 'The Charity Commission is explicitly clear... that it is not the Commission's responsibility to adjudicate or mediate internal disputes.
'The Commission has not investigated any individual allegations and therefore has not made any findings in relation to individuals, including Prince Harry.'
The former trustees also issued a statement rebuking the commission for choosing to 'ignore key concerns' over the 'leadership and oversight' of Sentebale's chairman.
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Dovecot Studios, to Jan 17, • Edinburgh festivals 2025: the best theatre, music and dance shows ★★★★★It's rare to see Andy Goldsworthy's work inside a gallery — mostly he makes it in the landscape, out of natural materials, then leaves it to the mercies of nature, often to disappear altogether. This poetic, gently witty, quietly magical show includes photography and video documentation of some of his more ephemeral works, as well as objects and large installations that recognise and pay tribute to our integral relationship with the land. With works ranging from an elegiac room of stones displaced by human burials to vast paintings made by the muddy feet of hungry sheep, it's a strangely touching experience that makes you want to immediately tramp up Arthur's Seat, fires permitting, and hold your arms Scottish Academy, to Nov 2, ★★★★☆With their quiet clarity, soft palette and domestic focus, the paintings of the Philadelphia-based artist Aubrey Levinthal feel familiar in a way that is comforting yet disquieting. Revolving around life with her husband, son and friends, they are full of relatable detail that you rarely see in painting — a Tupperware containing the remnants of lunch; the startling black of a laptop screen reflecting an overhead light; a charger; discarded hoop earrings; an escapist scribble of spaghetti; drooping houseplants; children clustering around an iPad. She skilfully evokes, too, the solitude that comes with the territory of artist — and motherhood. Don't miss her prints in the hallway of the gallery, or the small exhibition upstairs of gorgeous canvases by Mia Kokkoni, a recent graduate based in Gallery, to Sep 13, • Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025: the best comedy shows to see ★★★★☆The glorious sculpture park of Jupiter Artland is always worth visiting, but every summer a couple of new commissions are presented there, and the standout this year is the film-maker Guy Oliver's new piece, Millennial Prayer. Looking back at the day we briefly thought the clocks were going to stop, this hour-long, highly entertaining exploration of a cultural moment that was hugely significant and a complete damp squib wields deadpan humour to create a nonchalantly acute social Artland, to Sep 28, ★★★★☆Exquisitely made and totally compelling, this exhibition by the Egyptian artist Wael Shawky centres on two films about politics and history. The two-hour epic (part of a trilogy) Cabaret Crusades III: The Secrets of Karbala uses intricate glass marionettes, some of which are on display ('We are all like marionettes, manipulated by forces we cannot see,' he says), to give an Arab perspective on the context and motivation underpinning the Crusades. The strange but stunning Drama 1882 is an operatic rendition of Egypt's abortive nationalist Urabi revolution against imperial rule, undermined by the British to protect its interests in the region and leading to Britain's occupation of Egypt until 1956. Most visitors won't sit through them, but they're really worth your time. Talbot Rice Gallery, to Sep 28, • Read more art reviews, guides and interviews ★★★★☆At the heart of Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden, Inverleith House feels like an oddly appropriate location for this 50-year survey of work by the post-punk feminist artist Linder, who often draws on floral imagery to wittily subvert the tropes of femininity. Her scalpel-sharp, surgically executed photomontages critique conventional assumptions about gender and sexuality. From soft porn spliced with images of domestic appliances to photographs of the working-class drag clubs of 1970s Manchester, she kicks hard and precisely where it hurts. Inverleith House, to Oct 19, ★★★☆☆Mike Nelson creates immersive environments from salvaged materials that are stuffed with cultural references. They're not always easy to read, and this, a study in the politics of construction and destruction across all three gallery spaces, is no different — the short film upstairs, in which he reluctantly explains where he's coming from, is by far the most helpful place to start. Based on two sets of photographs — one of Mardin, a predominantly Kurdish city in Turkey that was at the time in a remarkable state of infrastructural redevelopment, and one of an unnamed London housing estate in the last silent days before its destruction — it's a cumulative experience that is more poetic and atmospheric than expressive. Make sure you visit the warehouse section of the gallery (through the café, then through a big metal door) or you'll be to Oct 5, Follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
