Royal | News - Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
The chairwoman of Prince Harry’s African charity that he recently stepped down from was dubbed “poisonous” and accused of “playing the race card” in order to keep control of the non-profit organisation, sources have claimed. The Duke of Sussex has been embroiled in a bitter row with Sentebale’s chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka after he quit last week as its patron amid a boardroom battle which includes several “claims and counter-claims of racism, bullying and mismanagement”.
Harry founded Sentebale in honour of his mother late mother, Princess Diana, in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help young people and children in southern Africa, particularly those living with HIV and Aids. However, several trustees have left the organisation in a dispute with Ms Chandauka, having requested her resignation. According to The Times, the dispute arose over a decision to focus fundraising in Africa. Now Ms Chandauka, who was appointed chairwoman of the organisation’s board in 2023, was blasted by sources close to the trustees, who claimed she alleged racism when she “realised things were not going her way”.
They told The Telegraph: “She’s definitely playing the race card and openly. This is her plan. As soon as anyone turns against her, she brings the race card in and she comes for you.”
The sources claimed it started after Ms Chandauka was accused of losing a major sponsor of the annual Sentebale polo cup following an apparent falling out.
They said: “She’s a very poisonous woman and it’s very sad it’s come to this.”
Ms Chandauka recently appeared on Sky News where she took several shots at Prince Harry, describing how the prince’s Netflix deal interfered with a scheduled fundraiser and how an incident with his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, became a source of friction.
She said she reported Sentebale’s trustees to the UK Charity Commission and filed papers in a British court to prevent her removal.
The chairwoman alleged there was misconduct at the charity without naming anyone or offering any details in a statement published on Tuesday.
It said she had tried to blow the whistle on “abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir,” the latter word referring to a combination of racism and misogyny directed toward Black women.
Ms Chandauka alleged that Harry’s resignation had caught her blindsided and was “an example of harassment and bullying at scale”.
She said: “So it’s a cover-up, and the prince is involved.”
She also claimed there was a significant drop in donors after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit their royal duties in January 2020, and eventually settled in California.
A source close to former trustees and patrons of Sentebale previously dismissed her comments as a “publicity stunt”.
In a joint statement issued last week Harry and Prince Seeiso backed the departing trustees and stepped back as patrons until further notice, saying it was “devastating” that the relationship between Sentebale’s trustees and chairwoman of the board “broke down beyond repair”.
The Duke of Sussex’s office has so far declined to comment.