Prince Harry resigns from his own charity after ‘unthinkable infighting’ with board chair
Prince Harry has sensationally stepped down from his own organisation, with a leaked letter revealing the duke felt it was “beyond repair”.
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Prince Harry has made the “devastating” decision to resign from his charity after “unthinkable infighting” with the board chair, it is understood.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, set up African charity Sentebale in 2006 in memory of his mother, Princess Diana, along with friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
In a statement seen by The Times, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso have now revealed they are siding with the charity’s trustees after they unanimously resigned following a row with board chair Sophie Chandauka.
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Speaking to The Sun, the Zimbabwean lawyer, who was appointed last year, said she had acted with integrity as a “proud African” despite facing “bullying, harassment, misogyny”.
She is understood to be suing the trustees over calls for her to stand down from the post.
In the Princes’ statement, which is yet to be publicly released, they said: “With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same.
“It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
They added: “What’s transpired is unthinkable. 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.”
The Charity Commission has confirmed that an investigation is underway into the charity, which was set up to support those living with HIV and AIDS in Africa.
A spokesperson told The Sun, “We can confirm that we are aware of concerns about the governance of Sentebale.
“We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”
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Sentebale has not received formal resignations from either of the royal patrons, it is understood.
However, it confirmed to The Sun that a “restructuring” of the board had taken place.
Harry, who has also undertaken charity work with Meghan as part of The Archwell Foundation, set up Sentebale after visiting Lesotho on his gap year in 2004.
It was on the trip that he met his future co-founder, Prince Seeiso, who had also lost his mum the year before.
In the statement, the pair said they had started the charity, which means “forget-me-not”, in honour of their mums.
They added that they had no choice but to support the trustees, who had acted in the best interest of the charity.
A statement provided to The Times by former trustees Timothy Boucher, Mark Dyer, Audrey Kgosidintsi, Kelello Lerotholi and Damian West stated that Chandauka’s lawsuit had been initiated to “block us from voting her out.”
A spokesperson for Sentebale said: “We are pleased to confirm the restructuring of our Board on 25 March 2025 to introduce experts with the capabilities and networks to accelerate Sentebale’s transformation agenda as announced last year.
“In April 2024, Sentebale signalled its evolution from a development organisation focused on addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the lives of children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana, to one that is addressing issues of youth health, wealth and climate resilience in Southern Africa.
“Our highly successful Return to Southern Africa (RTSA) campaign with prospective international funders in October 2024 demonstrated Sentebale’s potential in these domains.
“The RTSA was followed by the announcement of Carmel Gaillard as our Interim Executive Director based in Johannesburg in December 2024.
“This followed Sentebale’s confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programs in Southern Africa.
“The recalibration of the Board is, therefore, part of Sentebale’s ambitious transformation agenda.”
It is not the first time the Duke has faced controversy over his charity work, after the Archwell Foundation was accused of failing to submit records – and pay a bill last year.
Harry and Meghan responded with a chipper message about their recent charity trip to Nigeria.
A statement on their website read: “The Duke and Duchess would like to extend their deepest gratitude to all the event organisers, military officials and the whole Nigerian community for their tremendous hospitality and the first of many memorable trips.”
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Prince Harry resigns from his own charity after ‘unthinkable infighting’ with board chair
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‘Devastated’: Harry quits his own charity amid row
Prince Harry has resigned from his most beloved charity after an “unthinkable” development within the organisation.