Prince Harry’s former charity has made a major announcement after experiencing harassment online. Sentebale, which was founded by Harry and Prince Seesio of Lethoso in 2006 to help improve the lives of young people affected by HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and southern Africa, has had to disable Instagram comments after “targeted online harassment.”
This comes just months after the Duke of Sussex, 43, and Prince Seesio of Lethoso announced their decision to resign as patrons of the charity. It is believed they made the decision after the relationships between the organization’s board of trustees and its newly appointed chairwoman Dr. Sophie Chandauka broke down.
In a joint statement at the time, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso said: “With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organization until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same.”
They continued: “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.”
It is not known whether the online harassment the charity is now facing is in relation to this situation.
On Friday, Senteble issued a statement that read: “Unfortunately, we have had to temporarily disable comments on this platform (Instagram) due to the harmful effects of recent targeted online harassment.
“Our focus remains on our mission and the communities we serve. We will not engage with misinformation or personal attacks here.”
The statement continued: “Thank you to those who continue to support and follow the work of Senteble.”
The charity has 31.5k followers on Instagram.