Prince Harry resigns from his own charity in ‘devastating’ decision after ‘unthinkable infighting’ with board chair
PRINCE Harry has made the “devastating” decision to resign from his charity after “unthinkable infighting” with the board chair, it is understood.
The Duke of Sussex set up Sentebale, which supports HIV and Aids patients in Africa, in 2006 along with pal Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
A statement from the pair has now cited infighting between the charity‘s trustees and Zimbabwean lawyer Sophie Chandauka, who was appointed as board chair last year.
She is understood to be suing the trustees over calls for her to stand down from the post.
In the statement, seen by The Times but yet to be publicly released, they said: “With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same.
“It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
They added that that they supported the trustees’ calls for Chandauka’s resignation – and criticised her decision to take legal action as a result.
An investigation into Sentebale by the Charity Commission is currently underway, over concerns about governance.
A spokesperson for the commission told The Sun: “We can confirm that we are aware of concerns about the governance of Sentebale.
“We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”
However, no findings have yet been made, The Sun understands.
A spokesperson for Sentebale told The Times it had undertaken a “restructuring” of the board as “confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programmes in southern Africa”.
Harry set up the charity after visiting Lesotho on his gap year in 2004.
It was on the trip that he met his future co-founder, Prince Seeiso, who had also lost his mum.
In the statement, the pair said they had started the charity, which means “forget-me-not”, in honour of their mums.
They added that they had “heavy hearts” in the wake of the decision, but had no choice but to support their board members.
Sentebale has not received resignations from either Royal Patron, The Sun understands.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “We are pleased to confirm the restructuring of our Board on 25 March 2025 to introduce experts with the capabilities and networks to accelerate Sentebale’s transformation agenda as announced last year.
“In April 2024, Sentebale signalled its evolution from a development organisation focused on addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the lives of children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana, to one that is addressing issues of youth health, wealth and climate resilience in Southern Africa.
“Our highly successful Return to Southern Africa (RTSA) campaign with prospective international funders in October 2024 demonstrated Sentebale’s potential in these domains.
“The RTSA was followed by the announcement of Carmel Gaillard as our Interim Executive Director based in Johannesburg in December 2024.
“This followed Sentebale’s confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programmes in Southern Africa.
“The recalibration of the Board is, therefore, part of Sentebale’s ambitious transformation agenda.”