To the monarch of Montecito, who is once again making headlines for all the wrong reasons. It turns out the Charity Commission is probing ‘concerns raised’ at Prince Harry’s African charity, Sentebale – as a battle over bullying rages in the boardroom. Oh dear…
The royal renegade’s organisation has come under fire over its governance, as allegations of bullying, racism and mismanagement have also been flung around. The Commission announced today it had opened an inquiry in a statement and has already been in touch with those who flagged concerns about the company – including both the Duke of Sussex himself and chair Sophie Chandauka.
The watchdog went on to note that:
The regulator’s focus, in line with its statutory remit, will be to determine whether the charity’s current and former trustees, including its chair, have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law… After a period of assessing the initial concerns raised with the Commission, the regulator informed the charity on April 2 2025 it has opened a regulatory compliance case. The regulator has not made any findings at this time.
The opening of the probe comes after Harry, his co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and their trustees stepped down after a falling out over funding with Chandauka. A bitter war of words ensued, with the Prince’s side insisting: ‘What’s transpired is unthinkable.’ Meanwhile the chair retaliated with a statement of her own, writing scathingly:
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.
Ouch. Sentebale, a charity which helps people living with HIV and Aids, was set up by Harry in 2006 in memory of his mother Princess Diana. The name, rather ironically, means ‘forget me not’. There’s certainly no need to worry about it fading into obscurity after this whole debacle, eh?
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