Why did Prince Harry permanently leave Sentebale? Reason explained

Prince Harry has decided to permanently leave Sentebale, a charity he set up in his mother's memory after a fall-out with its chairman, Dr Sophie Chandauka. He founded the charity alongside Prince Seeiso. The purpose of Sentebale is to help the orphans of the kingdom of Lesotho who are suffering from AIDS. Chandauka's claims about experiencing misogyny and bullying have led to the prince, as well as several trustees, leaving the charity.

A Charity Commission investigation was launched, and it revealed that there was:

"No evidence [of] widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir," according to the allegations made by Dr Sophie Chandauka.

However, the Duke of Sussex stated his spokesperson on August 4, 2025. Prince Harry's message was:

"With the original mission of Sentebale firmly in mind - and in honour of the legacy he and Prince Seeiso [of Lesotho] began - The Duke of Sussex will now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana."

How did the issue between Prince Harry and Dr Sophie Chandauka begin?

Problems in Sentebale began chairperson, Dr Sophie Chandauka, was asked to step down. There were disagreements about fundraising, and she was accused of using £500,000 (approximately $665592.85) on consultants to find wealthy donors from the US. Sentebale's chairperson denied all of this and responded by suing the charity and reporting it to the Charity Commission.

According to Dr Sophie's lawsuit, she reported the charity for:

"alleging bullying, harassment, misogyny, and misogynoir," which is a term for discrimination against black women.

Furthermore, the Charity Commission revealed in a statement. They said:

"The regulator has criticised all parties to the dispute for allowing it to play out publicly, and further concluded that the then trustees' failure to resolve disputes internally severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally."

While there was no evidence of misogyny, bullying, or misogynoir, the commission did mention that it:

"acknowledged the strong perception of ill-treatment felt by a number of parties to the dispute and the impact this may have had on them personally."

If the commission had started a formal investigation into Sentebale, the chairperson might have been forced to step down, which could have opened the door for Prince Harry to return. But since the commission decided not to investigate and let her stay, it now looks like there's no chance for him to come back.

After the findings of the Charity Commission, the Prince said that they fell "troublingly short" and concluded by saying:

"consequences of [Dr Chandauka’s] actions will not be borne by her but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support."

Leaving Sentebale was not an easy decision for Prince Harry. He is "utterly devastated" by what he calls a "hostile takeover" of the charity he started in late Princess Diana's memory.

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