I wasn’t surprised that the UK Charity Commission seemingly placed equal blame on Sophie Chandauka and Prince Harry for the mess within Sentebale. There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence that this was always a larger plot to ruin Sentebale, and that Chandauka completed a hostile takeover of the charity with help from Prince William’s allies. Of course the Charity Commission didn’t want to deal with all of those issues, so they merely cleared Harry of the wildest claims made by Chandauka, and then they blamed all sides for not dealing with these issues privately. The Charity Commission’s investigation was cursory at best, and woefully inadequate and severely compromised at worst. There’s one good thing though – as much as Chandauka wants to make this all about Prince Harry and Meghan, there were many other people involved within Sentebale who were appalled by Chandauka’s lies and gross mismanagement. People like the former trustees, who have now issued their own separate statement about the Charity Commission’s insufficient investigation.
The former trustees of Prince Harry’s African charity are speaking out after an official inquiry found fault on all sides following a bitter internal conflict.
The trustees say they are “gravely concerned” for the future of the charity that Harry, 40, and his friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho set up nearly two decades ago. Sentebale — meaning forget-me-not in Lesotho’s language — was set up by the princes in memory of their late mothers, Princess Diana and Queen ‘Mamohato, to help support young people in Lesotho, especially amid the HIV and AIDS crisis in the southern African country. Harry and his co-founder Seeiso, 59, left their roles as patrons in March in solidarity with the then-trustees who had resigned in a dispute with chairperson Dr. Sophie Chandauka.
Late on Aug. 5, the Charity Commission for England and Wales released its verdict following its inquiry that began in April. It criticized both sides but left the non-profit as it was, with its controversial chairperson, Dr. Chandauka, still in place. The commission said the conflict had been allowed “to play out publicly” and cited poor internal governance and said a “failure to resolve disputes internally severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally.”
Its review said it found no evidence of “widespread or systemic bullying, harassment, misogyny or misogynoir” at Sentebale, following an investigation into claims made by the charity’s current chair. The Commission also found no “overreach” by either Chandauka or Prince Harry.
In a statement to PEOPLE, the former trustees reacted saying, “We are disheartened by the way in which the Charity Commission has chosen to ignore key concerns and irrefutable evidence raised with them regarding the leadership and oversight of Sentebale’s Chair.”
“We accept there is always room to strengthen governance of an organization, which is why we welcomed a governance review by the Chair initiated in February 2024, and that should have only taken a matter of months — we unfortunately never saw a report or any outcomes enacted, more than two years into her tenure.”
“We remain gravely concerned for the future of the charity and the wellbeing of the communities we served for 19 years, following the mission set out by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso in honor of their mothers,” the statement concluded.
As I said, while the Charity Commission’s negligence isn’t surprising, it’s interesting that the commission is being called out in this way for their failures. This isn’t hard, and it shouldn’t be some controversial statement to say that Chandauka needs to be forced to resign, that her lies and her behavior are the entire reason for the catastrophe. It makes you wonder who pulled strings at the Charity Commission to ensure that Chandauka remains there as chairwoman.
Meanwhile, Newsweek had an interesting piece about Prince Seeiso exploring some legal maneuvers to somehow bifuricate Sentebale-in-Lesotho and Sentebale’s charitable registration in the UK. Meaning, there’s an exploration to find a way to separate Sentebale’s operations on the ground from the (mis)management of the chairwoman and board.
Photos courtesy of Getty.