‘Devastated’: Prince Harry leaves his own charity over board chair

Prince Harry and the co-founder of his charity Sentebale have stepped down after the relationship between the organisation’s trustees and the chair of the board ‘broke down beyond repair’.

Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and Prince Harry attend a welcome event at Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre. Picture: Getty Images for Sentebale.

The Duke of Sussex has made the “devastating” decision to resign from his charity Sentebale amid “unthinkable” infighting in the organisation.

Prince Harry, who established the African charity in 2006, has quit in solidarity with his co-founder and the entire board of trustees after “the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation”.

In an extraordinary joint statement which is yet to be officially released, Harry and his co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho wrote: “What’s transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this.”

Sentebale, which means “Forget me not”, is in a state of crisis and The Times understands that it is now the subject of a Charity Commission investigation.

Harry set up the charity with Prince Seeiso, whose mother died in 2003, after visiting the landlocked country of Lesotho during his gap year in 2004. Sentebale was created to help people in Lesotho and Botswana living in poverty and those suffering from HIV and Aids.

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However, in a joint statement they said: “Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honour of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho, the local language of Lesotho, and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity.

“Today is no different. 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.”

Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso arrive at a special Sentebale event in Leribe, Lesotho. Picture: Getty Images for Sentebale.

On Tuesday (AEDT) a spokesman for Sentebale said that the charity had carried out a “restructuring” of its board as “confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programs in southern Africa”.

It is understood that the row is centred around the chair of the board of trustees and a decision to focus fundraising largely in Africa.

Sophie Chandauka, a Zimbabwe-born lawyer, was appointed to the post last year and is understood to be suing the trustees after they questioned whether she was best placed to chair the board.

Siding with the departing trustees, the princes’ statement said: “These trustees acted in the best interest of the charity in asking the chair to step down, while keeping the wellbeing of staff in mind. In turn, she sued the charity to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship.

“We thank all the trustees for their service over the years and are truly heartbroken they’ve had to follow through with this act.

“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.

“Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care.”

The Charity Commission confirmed on Tuesday that an investigation was under way.

The Times