Charity boss alleges Harry contacted her with awkward Meghan request

It’s been claimed an awkward request from Harry to the head of his charity took place following a viral moment involving Meghan last year.

IN LONDON

Prince Harry allegedly requested the chair of his Sentebale charity defend his wife publicly after a particular moment involving the pair at a polo fundraiser “went badly”.

Speaking on the UK’s Sky News channel on Sunday, Dr. Sophie Chandauka opened up about the issues surrounding the Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Miami in April last year.

A photo op at the Miami polo match. Picture: Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Sentebale

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In footage taken during the event, Meghan was seen repeatedly asking the Sentebale chair to move to her left side and away from Harry as pictures were taken on the stage – and the video quickly went viral.

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As backlash grew online, Dr. Chandauka claims that Harry asked her to issue a public statement supporting his wife.

“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,” she said on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

“And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”

The awkward moment went viral and sparked backlash.

A source close to the couple described the claims as “highly misleading” to the Mail Online.

News.com.au has reached out to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for comment.

Meanwhile, during her Sky News interview, Dr. Chandauka also alleged that the charity had lost its original choice of venue, which had been offered at a “material discount”, due to the fact that Harry had chosen to bring a Netflix production crew with him. He was filming his docu-series, Polo, at the time.

“We had a very generous family that was happy for us to use their polo grounds at a material discount,” she explained.

“And then about a month before the event was about to take place, Prince Harry called the team and said, ‘I’m doing a Netflix show and I would love to bring a camera crew so that I can shoot some footage in this show.’”

Meghan decided to attend at the last minute, according to Dr Chandauka. Picture: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Dr Chandauka spoke about the incident during an interview on Sky News. Picture: Yaroslav Sabitov/PA via AP

Dr Chandauka added that the team said they had approved the request, but the venue owners had then increased their price as it had become a “commercial undertaking” – ultimately meaning they’d had to pull out as they “couldn’t afford it.”

She said while they were “lucky enough” to find somewhere else at short notice, Meghan’s last-minute decision to attend and to bring her famous friend, tennis star Serena Williams, had caused more challenges.

“The duchess decided to attend, but she told us she wasn’t attending, and she brought a friend, a very famous friend,” Dr. Chandauka said.

“We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time, but we didn’t. And so, the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage.”

Last week, Harry announced that he and his Sentebale co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, were quitting the charity along with the board of trustees amid an “untenable” situation with Dr. Chandauka.

In his statement announcing his decision, Harry said he was “in shock” and “truly heartbroken” to be stepping down.

Dr Chandauka then hit back, claiming they had unsuccessfully tried to force her out because she “dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the cover-up that ensued”.

Originally published as Charity boss alleges Harry contacted her with awkward Meghan request