Prince Harry said he had quit as patron of a charity he founded in southern Africa almost 20 years ago with a “heavy heart” amid a bitter boardroom battle, in a new blow to the royal living in self-exile.

Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso said they were resigning after a “devastating” dispute between trustees and board chair Sophie Chandauka, who was appointed in 2023.

Relations “broke down beyond repair,” they said in a joint statement late Tuesday.

Harry had vowed not to walk away from the Sentebale charity in his first public speech after he dramatically split from Britain’s royal family in 2020.

He founded the charity in 2006 in honour of his mother, Princess Diana, with Seeiso to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and later Botswana.

“What’s transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries,” they said.

Trustees on the board had already left the UK-registered organisation and requested Chandauka’s resignation.

It is not clear exactly what is behind the rift, but Chandauka said she was being targeted after raising serious concerns about the charity, including accusations of harassment, misogyny and racism.

Sentebale said in a statement to AFP that it had not received the resignations but confirmed a “recalibration of the board.”

Last year, the charity said it was seeking to become a “locally led organisation” and was evolving to focus on “youth health, wealth and climate resilience” in southern Africa.

In December, it announced the departure of its London-based CEO and the appointment of a new interim executive director in Johannesburg, in a “first move to place the most critical senior roles in close proximity to its programmes in Southern Africa.”

– ‘Devastating’ –
In their statement, Harry and Seeiso 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.”

Chandauka alleged she had faced a backlash after trying to air concerns about the charity’s governance.


https://punchng.com/prince-harry-resigns-from-africa-charity-after-devastating-row/