Prince Harry has responded to bullying claims made by Senetable charity chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka.

The Duke of Sussex resigned from the charity, which he set up in memory of his mother Princess Diana in 2006, along with his co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, ‘in solidarity’ with the former trustees after the chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka reportedly resisted their requests to resign. In a joint statement, the princes explained that the situation had become ‘untenable’ and the relationship between the board and its chair had ‘broken down beyond repair’.

The party line was that Chandauka had been asked to resign following questions that emerged about whether she was fit for the role but reportedly refused to do so. Instead, she filed a lawsuit against the trustees and reported them to the UK Charity Commission.

She has since defended herself claiming she had ‘blown the whistle’ about issues including the abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism that existed in the charity. According to Chandauka, it is a ‘story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir [discrimination against Black women] – and the coverup that ensued’.

She concluded her statement by confirming that she will stay on as chairwoman and said her work with the charity is ‘not a vanity project from which I can resign when I am called to account’. A comment that has been broadly perceived as a swipe at Prince Harry.

The Charity Commission has confirmed that is was ‘aware of concerns about the governance’ of Sentebale and is looking into them. While the former board of trustees have not yet responded to Chandauka’s allegations, Prince Harry certainly has. He claims the Charity Commission will ‘unveil the truth’.

‘What has transpired over the last week has been heartbreaking to witness, especially when such blatant lies hurt those who have invested decades in this shared goal,’ he said. ‘From the inception of Sentebale nearly 20 years ago, Prince Seeiso and I have had a clear goal – to support the children and young people in southern Africa in memory of our mothers.’

The prince added, ‘We remain hopeful [the investigation] will allow for the charity to be put in the right hands immediately, for the sake of the communities we serve.’

Chandauka is evidently sceptical of Prince Harry’s intentions. In her statement last week, she said, ‘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.’

However, Chandauka’s conduct has been brought into question too, including claims that £500,000 of Sentebale’s money was spent on consultants in a strategy to get donations from wealthy individuals and foundations in the US, but which sources close to the former trustees say had not delivered adequate results.

These financial concerns exist despite the charity receiving £1.2 million from Prince Harry off the back of his best-selling memoir, Spare. A Sentebale spokeswoman rejected the claim that £500,000 had been spent on US consultants and defended its approach to seeking new funds. Other sources claim that Chandauka had raised funding to cover the cost of the consultants and that her own family had become significant donors to the charity.

Sentebale told the BBC it had hired a US firm called Lebec to help develop a new fundraising strategy, and that by October 2024 a team of six consultants had set up 65 key relationships with potential donors, who might help Sentebale in the future.

It said the 12-month deal with Lebec, a women-led strategy firm, had successfully delivered links to ‘high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporations, foundations and partner non-profits’.

A spokeswoman added, ‘Lebec provided the positioning strategy, the tools, and the insights to enter the US market successfully and with credibility’. And while the one-off donation from Prince Harry was ‘incredibly useful’, it did not represent a long-term ‘funding pipeline’ for the charity.

The financial fallout did not end there. Dr Chandauka has also argued that the controversy surrounding Prince Harry’s decision to leave the UK and step down as a senior working member of the royal family in 2020 was a barrier to potential donors. She previously said the ‘toxicity’ of his brand was the ‘number one risk for this organisation’.

The chairwoman has also spoken about an awkward encounter she once had with Meghan Markle during a fundraising polo match where she claims she was manoeuvred out of the way during a prize-giving ceremony. ‘Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of statement in support of the duchess and I said I wouldn’t,’ she later explained. However, the Sussex camp has rejected those rumours and said there was no conflict and the situation had been misrepresented.

This dispute is becoming as personal as it is uncomfortable. Even so, both sides insist that they look forward to clearing their names when the watchdog’s investigation is complete. Chandauka, who remains chairwoman of the charity, said she and her leadership are focusing on the day-to-day operations of Sentebale and hope to work with their supporters as ‘we recalibrate for an ambitious future’. While Prince Harry expects a ‘robust inquiry’ to ‘unveil the truth that collectively forced us to resign’.