The chair of the charity set up by Prince Harry has accused him of “harassment and bullying at scale” after he and several others quit the organisation earlier this week.
The Duke of Sussex was said to have initiated the campaign by the “unleashing of the Sussex [PR] machine”.
Sentebale chair Dr Sophie Chandauka told Trevor Phillips on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “The only reason I’m here… is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorised the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director.
“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organisations and their family?
“That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
Dr Chandauka speaks with Sky’s Sir Trevor Phillips
Sky News contacted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex about the contents of the interview and they declined to offer any formal response.
A source close to the former trustees of the Sentebale charity has described as “completely baseless” Dr Chandauka’s claims that she was bullied and harassed, briefed against by Prince Harry, or that the Sussex machine was unleashed on her.
On Tuesday, Prince Harry quit as patron of the charity, which he set up in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
At the time, he released a joint statement with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, saying they had been forced to step down “in support of and solidarity with” the board of trustees who had also resigned, following their disagreements with the chairwoman.
Sentebale has spectacularly pushed Trump, Putin and spring statement out of the headlines
It takes something pretty spectacular to knock Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Rachel Reeves out of the headlines. But this week, the goings-on at a small, Africa-based charity did exactly that.
A spate of resignations at Sentebale, set up to support families with children stricken with AIDS, garnered global attention.
The reason is, of course, that the charity’s patron was the Duke of Sussex, formerly HRH Prince Harry, who created the organisation partly in memory of his mother, Diana, the Princess of Wales.
The conflict has torn the charity apart, and threatens its life-saving work – not to mention the reputations of all involved.
The organisation’s chair, Sophie Chandauka, is a distinguished Zimbabwean-born corporate lawyer, who I have known for many years. We have worked together to persuade City firms to increase the gender and ethnic diversity of their boards.
But I had little knowledge of her royal connections until now.
In our interview, she accuses the Duke of unleashing “the Sussex machine” on her and Sentebale’s staff.
A source close to the former trustees of the charity has described the claims as “completely baseless”.
Watch the entire interview, and judge for yourself.
They wrote that the relationship “broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation”.
The problems reportedly stem from a decision to focus fundraising in Africa.
In a statement earlier this week, seemingly targeted at Prince Harry, Dr Chandauka said: “There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct.
“Beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to the press is the story of a woman who 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.”
On Wednesday, a former trustee of Sentebale, Dr Kelello Lerotholi, told Sky’s royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills he did not recognise any of the allegations.
Dr Lerotholi said he had never witnessed these issues and that the claims “came to me as a surprise”.
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‘This all came as a shock to me’
Read more:
Prince Harry ‘in shock’ as he quits Sentebale charity
Charity misconduct claims ‘a surprise’, says Sentebale trustee
“I can honestly say, in the meetings I was present in, there was never even a hint of such,” he said.
“The general tone and conduct of the board has been one of respect for each other, accommodating each other’s opinions and inputs, and speaking with respect to each other.
“So this all came as a shock to me.”
Sentebale was established in 2006 to help children and young people in southern Africa, particularly those with HIV and Aids.
Prince Harry was inspired to start the charity after spending two months in Lesotho, when he was on a gap year in 2004.
He was in the small African country – which has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV and AIDS – as recently as last October.
You can watch Trevor Phillips’ full interview with Dr Sophie Chandauka tomorrow morning on ‘Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips’ from 8:30am on Sky News.
