Prince Harry resigned from the Sentebale charity on Tuesday amid infighting within the organisation. The Duke of Sussex said that he was ‘in shock’ and “truly heartbroken” about the situation. The African organisation was founded by the British royal alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to to help people in southern Africa who were living with HIV and Aids.
“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 said in a joint statement.
Sentebale was established in 2006 to honour Princess Diana after the Duke visited the southern African country during his gap year. The two royals decided to step down as patrons earlier this week after an ongoing dispute between the board of trustees and chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka took a turn for the worse.
The Trustees said that they had lost confidence and trust in the chairperson but had no option apart from resigning due to her legal action. They described the also described the decision as “nothing short of devastation”. Reports quoted the former trustees as claiming that this was in the “best interest of the charity” as it could not bear the “legal and financial burden” of a lawsuit.
Meanwhile Chandauka said that she had reported the trustees to the UK Charity Commission and “blown the whistle” about issues including abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism.
“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, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the Charity Commission as to how this came about,” the joint statement added.