Prince Harry Accused of Harassment & Bullying by Sentebale Chairwoman

Last week, news broke that Prince Harry was stepping down from his position as patron of his charity organization Sentebale, which was created in 2006 by Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to honor their moms Princess Diana and Queen Mamohato.

According to Harry and Seeiso, they had to make the tough decision due to the charity’s trustees and chairwoman Dr. Sophie Chandauka’s deteriorating relationship.

Now, Chandauka is speaking out, accusing Harry of “harassment and bully at scale” in a TV interview on “Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.”

Referencing Harry’s resignation, she said, “The only reason I’m here is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director.”

She emphasized, “And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their family? That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”

Chandauka also recalled her awkward exchange with Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle at the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge.

In a moment that went viral, Chandauka was seen standing next to Harry at a trophy ceremony when Megan asked her to move to a different spot, asking “You want to come over here?”

Chandauka then ducked under the trophy and stood away from Harry. 

According to Chandauka, Markle wasn’t originally scheduled to attend. She said, “We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time [Meghan was coming], but we didn’t. And so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage.”

She added, “The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.”

Chandauka claimed that Harry asked her to issue a statement “in support” of Meghan, but she declined.

She explained, “Not because I didn’t care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”

A source close to the Sentebale charity claimed to Sky News that Chandauka’s account of what happened as “highly misleading.” 

She claimed that things only got worse after the incident and accused Harry of wanting to “eject” her from the charity “for months.”

Chandauka commented, “There were board meetings where members of the executive team and external strategic advisers were sending me messages saying, 'Should I interrupt?', 'Should I stop this?' 'Oh my gosh, this is so bad.’ In fact, our strategic adviser for fundraising then sent me a message saying she wouldn't want to ever attend any more board meetings or bring her colleagues because of the treatment.”

Chandauka claimed that Harry took on a different tactic when she didn’t step away from the organization. She alleged, “Prince Harry started to brief, and his team, sponsors that I had been speaking to, against me and the charity, because that is a sure way of getting me out if it's seen as though I'm not being successful in my fundraising efforts.”

A source close to Sentebale responded to Chaundauka’s claims, calling them “completely baseless.”