LONDON: 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.”
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