Tim Graham/Getty Princess Diana and Prince Harry
Prince Harry has abruptly left his beloved charity he founded in 2006, nearly 20 years ago.
On March 25, news broke that Harry quit his own charity, Sentebale, over “infighting,” according to The Telegraph. Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho (located in southern Africa) founded the organization in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana, nine years after her death in a Paris car accident in 1997. Sentebale—which means “forget-me-not” in Sesotho, the official language of Lesotho—supports children affected by HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and nearby Botswana.
“With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organization until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same,” Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso said in a statement released Tuesday evening. The two princes said in the joint statement that “We are truly heartbroken to leave.
The Charity Commission said it was looking into “concerns about the governance of Sentebale,” and The Telegraph reported that there was “a devastating breakdown in trust between new chairman Sophia Chandauka, who was appointed last summer, and the board.”
The outlet reported that when the trustees asked Chandauka to step down, she sued Sentebale in order to retain her role.
“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,” Harry and Seeiso said. “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.
Harry was inspired to launch Sentebale after spending two months in Lesotho during his gap year in 2004. Since then, he has held a number of fundraising polo events for the organization, and traveled to Lesotho as recently as last October to reunite with Prince Seeiso. In December, he attended an event in New York City on behalf of the organization.
“Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care,” the princes said Tuesday.
On Tuesday evening, Chandauka responded with a statement of her own, accusing the board of “abuse of power, bullying, misogyny, and harassment,” according to The Telegraph. She seemingly criticized Harry and the five trustees who resigned, suggesting that Sentebale was a “vanity project” for them and that they were using the media “they disdain” to cause harm, The Telegraph reported.
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