Did Megxit send Sentebale into financial decline? Chairwoman of Prince Harry’s African charity claims donors quit when he left the UK

The chairwoman of Prince Harry’s African charity has claimed that the charity suffered a financial decline after he left the UK, with donors and corporate sponsors abandoning the organisation.

Sophie Chandauka, who took on her role as chair of Sentebale in July 2023, appeared on Sky News‘s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips to reveal the charity lost major donors following the Duke of Sussex‘s departure from the UK. 

She pointed to a ‘significant correlation’ between the charity’s financial downturn and Harry’s move to the US amid the fallout from his rift with the royal family.

Harry and Meghan married in 2018 and stepped down as senior royals in January 2020 over frustratration that Buckingham Palace prevented them developing their ‘SussexRoyal’ brand.

Chandauka explained: ‘It was pretty obvious to me that we had lost quite a number of corporate sponsors. We’d lost some families, and we’d lost individuals who were donating to the organisation. 

‘And there was quite a significant correlation between the time the organisation started to see a departure of sort of major organisations, and Prince Harry’s departure from the UK itself.’

She continued by adding that there was no discussion within the charity about these losses: ‘When you look at the board minutes, though, there is no discussion about what’s happening with respect to some of our most significant funders. 

‘And when you discuss with the senior executive team and ask why there isn’t a conversation about this, the answer is: ‘It’s really difficult to have this conversation because the instruction was, it’s an uncomfortable conversation to have with Prince Harry in the room.”

Sentebale, which supports HIV and AIDS sufferers in Lesotho and Botswana, has been in the spotlight in recent days after allegations of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’ from Harry towards the charity’s chairwoman. 

In a bombshell new interview, Sentebale chairman Dr Sophie Chandauka has made several damaging claims against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, calling their brand ‘toxic’

Meghan and Harry pictured at the ‘disruptive’ charity polo game in Florida last April

These claims came to light after the Duke and several others resigned from the organisation earlier this week.

Though Prince Harry has not directly commented on the allegations, sources close to the prince have dismissed the claims as ‘completely baseless’. 

A source close to the charity’s trustees said they ‘fully expected this publicity stunt’ and emphasised their collective decision was made for the charity’s benefit. 

They added they ‘remain firm in their resignation, for the good of the charity, and look forward to the adjudication of the truth.’

Chandauka, a Zimbabwean lawyer, went on to suggest that Harry had made efforts to undermine her leadership by increasing his control within the organisation, adding more trustees to the board. 

She also claimed that there was tension between the UK-based staff and those working in Lesotho, where the majority of the charity’s 500-plus workforce is based.

‘The board felt ‘a loss of power and control and influence… ‘Oh my goodness, the Africans are taking over,’ she said.

In a separate interview with The Financial Times, Chandauka alleged that when Harry was unable to remove her through a vote due to a legal challenge, he aimed to sabotage the charity he founded in 2006 in memory of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

The rift between Harry and the charity’s board became public after the prince ‘unleashed the Sussex machine’ against her, according to Chandauka. 

Meanwhile, Conservative peer Lynda Chalker, who served as a trustee for nearly two decades before resigning in November, described Chandauka as having an ‘almost dictatorial’ style.

Sentebale and Harry’s representatives have been approached for comment.

Last week, Prince Harry announced that he and several trustees had quit Sentebale, the charity he set up with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, amid a boardroom battle within the organisation.

Nacho Figueras, Dr Sophie Chandauka, Chair of Sentebale, Prince Harry and Richard Miller, CEO of Sentebale attend the Royal Salute Polo Challenge benefitting Sentebale at Grand Champions Polo Club on April 12, 2024

Dr Chandauka (left), the chair of Prince Harry’s beleaguered charity Sentebale, said she had been asked to defend Meghan Markle against negative publicity

Dr Chandauka, who has been chairwoman of Sentebale since 2023, accused the duke of being ‘involved’ in a ‘cover-up’ of an investigation about bullying, harassment and misogyny at the organisation and said the ‘toxicity’ of his ‘brand’ had impacted the charity.

A source close to the former trustees of the Sentebale charity described Dr Chandauka’s claims that she was bullied and harassed, briefed against by Prince Harry, or that the Sussex machine was ‘unleashed on her’ as ‘completely baseless’.

Dr Chandauka also claimed that before the event, an opportunity for Sentebale to do a charity Polo Challenge in Miami was ruined when Harry insisted on bringing his Netflix camera crew along.

‘About a month before the event was about to take place, Prince Harry called the team and said, ‘I’m doing a Netflix show, and I would love to bring a camera crew so that I can include some footage in this show,” she said.

‘And so the team called me and told me, ‘Oh, Prince Harry’s made this request, so we’re doing the things’.

‘I said, you can’t be doing the things without seeking consent from the property owners, the sponsors, all the guests. Nobody signed up to being on a Netflix show.’

She added: ‘We come up with draft agreements and of course, the venue owner says this is now a commercial undertaking.

‘So here are my terms. We couldn’t afford it. So now we lost the venue.’