One week ago, I felt like the weekend would bring some bonkers royal gossip, but I wasn’t expecting Sophie Chandauka’s bizarre royalist media tour. Will something similar happen this weekend? Will Chandauka make the media rounds and throw out more bizarre accusations against Prince Harry? What’s interesting is that over the course of the past week, there’s already been significant pushback, and as of Thursday, there will be an investigation by Britain’s Charity Commission. People are rightly focused on Chandauka’s spending spree in the past year, where she reportedly dropped something like $600K of Sentebale money on “consultants.” The last time any Sentebale accounts were published, it was for the 2023 business year, so no one really knows the current state of Sentebale’s cash on hand, or how much Sentebale money has been spent on Chandauka’s ego and publicity tour. Within this NewsNation piece about how Prince Harry is “deeply depressed,” there’s an aside about how Sentebale’s finances are “ailing.”
While Meghan Markle is basking in her recent success, her husband, Prince Harry, is having a rough time. Sources tell me that Harry is “deeply depressed and embarrassed” by the Sentebale charity scandal he is enmeshed in and devastated that the charity he founded has been “ripped away” from him.
”He loves his charities — this is what he wants to spend his life doing and now, one of them is gone … and in the most horrible way,” a source said.
Both Harry and Prince Seeiso left Sentebale in sympathy and support for the board, which had resigned due to friction with the Zimbabwean chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka. The aftermath of the resignations has been brutal. Chandauka, who has been chairwoman of Sentebale since June 2023, claims Prince Harry bullied and harassed her after Harry’s wife created an awkward moment during a 2024 polo event.
Chandauka is also said to be furious that “someone” let it slip to the London Times that she spent over $600,000 on consultants — a lot of money that others feel could have gone to the charity’s causes instead. The charity, which had been in good financial health previously, is now said to be ailing (something Chandauka denies).
Adding to Harry’s depression is his father King Charles’ illness. Harry was said to be devastated when the King was so unwell due to cancer treatments he canceled public engagements last week. The Daily Mail reported Harry “doesn’t leave the (Montecito) house anymore.” A rep for Harry declined to comment on “conjecture.”
I genuinely hope that the Charity Commission focuses on the money rather than Chandauka’s bizarre claims, most of which are already falling apart under close scrutiny. Chandauka can “deny” that her stewardship of Sentebale hasn’t driven the charity into the ground, but the financials will likely say something else. But again, I don’t have a lot of faith in any British institution to do the right thing by a charity co-founded by Prince Harry. I know Harry wants to do this by the book, but I hope he’s already looped in his lawyers and they’re making plans to go scorched-earth on Chandauka and Prince William’s ally Iain Rawlinson.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Sky News.
