Chairwoman of Charity Cofounded by Prince Harry Accuses Him of ‘Harassment and Bullying’
The chairwoman of a charity cofounded by Prince Harry accused the former royal of “harassment and bullying at scale” in a pair of new interviews.
Earlier this week, the Duke of Sussex announced that he was stepping down from Sentebale, which he cofounded in 2006 to help people in southern Africa living with HIV and AIDS; the charity was created as a tribute to his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
In a statement, Prince Harry and his Sentebale cofounder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho cited that their relationship with Sentebale chairwoman Dr. Sophie Chandauka had “broke down beyond repair.” The princes previously asked Chandauka to resign from her position; she refused, and threatened legal action, “further underscoring the broken relationship,” they added in their statement.
Days after Prince Harry’s exit from Sentebale, Chandauka sat down for an interview to give her side of the breakdown, and claimed that the Duke of Sussex orchestrated a campaign of bullying and harassment in an effort to force her to resign as well as prevent her whistleblower complaint alleging “abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir.”
“So it’s a cover-up, and the prince is involved,” she told Sky News.
Speaking to Financial Times in a separate interview, Chandauka said tensions between her and Prince Harry first arose in the past year, citing an incident where the Sussexes’ public relations team asked Chandauka to speak out in support of Harry’s wife Meghan Markle, who had been facing negative publicity. “I said no, we’re not setting a precedent by which we become an extension of the Sussex PR machine,” Chandauka said in the interview.
She added, “The number-one risk for this organization was the toxicity of its lead patron’s brand.”
However, Sentebale’s trustees — five of whom also exited the charity this week along with Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso — placed the blame on the situation on Chandauka, adding that they had lost trust in her but her legal actions prevented them from removing her as chairwoman.
