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Prince Harry issued a strongly worded statement after he was cleared of bullying allegations.
On Aug. 5, the Charity Commission for England and Wales concluded that it found no evidence of “widespread or systemic bullying, harassment, misogyny or misogynoir” at the African charity Sentebale following an investigation, People magazine reported. They also found no “overreach” by the charity’s current chair, Dr. Sophie Chandauka, or the British prince, 40.
“Unsurprisingly, the Commission makes no findings of wrongdoing in relation to Sentebale’s Co-Founder and former Patron, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex,” a spokesperson for Harry told Fox News Digital.
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“They also found no evidence of widespread bullying, harassment, or misogyny and misogynoir at the charity, as falsely claimed by the current Chair,” said the spokesperson. “Despite all that, their report falls troublingly short in many regards, primarily the fact that the consequences of the current Chair’s actions will not be borne by her — but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Chandauka, who made the initial claims, for reaction.
The Commission did criticize all sides for allowing the dispute “to play out publicly,” citing poor internal governance and a “failure to resolve disputes internally [that] severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally.”
A spokesperson for Sentebale told Fox News Digital in a statement that the organization accepted the findings of the investigation. They’re also determined to follow any recommendations made by the Commission.
“It provides Sentebale with some degree of reassurance that the Charity Commission has not identified widespread bullying within the charity, but the Commission has 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,” read the statement.
“The Charity Commission is explicitly clear, including in its public guidance, that it is not the Commission’s responsibility to adjudicate or mediate internal disputes. This would include individual allegations of bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir, etc.”
“As a result, the Commission has not investigated any individual allegations and therefore has not made any findings in relation to individuals, including Prince Harry. The issues not investigated by the Commission can and may be dealt with through avenues more appropriate than the Commission.”
A source told People magazine that both Prince Harry and the charity’s cofounder, Prince Seesio, don’t see a way back to Sentebale as long as Chanduka is in place.
“Both Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso are devastated by what has effectively been a hostile takeover by Sophie Chandauka,” the source close to the former trustees and patrons told the outlet.
“This was Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry’s life work. They established it 19 years ago and in that time put in blood, sweat and tears and their own money into building this charity up to what it was: a multi-million-pound charity that delivered nothing but good for the beneficiary community that is supported in Lesotho and Botswana.”
In a statement, Chandauka said, “I appreciate the Charity Commission for its conclusions, which confirm the governance concerns I raised privately in February 2025. The experience was intense, and it became a test of our strategic clarity and operational resilience.”
“I thank every dedicated colleague and the courageous new Board members who have stayed focused on the mission in the face of unprecedented media glare. The unexpected adverse media campaign that was launched by those who resigned on 24 March 2025 has caused incalculable damage and offers a glimpse of the unacceptable behaviors displayed in private. We are emerging not just grateful to have survived, but stronger: more focused, better governed, boldly ambitious and with our dignity intact.”
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“Despite the recent turbulence, we will always be inspired by the vision of our Founders, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, who established Sentebale in memory of their precious mothers, Princess Diana and Queen Mamohato,” she continued. To all who believe in our mission: please walk with us as Sentebale recovers, renews, and rises to meet the hopes and expectations of the next generation.”
A source close to the former trustees told People they found it “appalling” that Chandauka invoked the names of the founders and their late mothers in her statement “for her own good.”
The Duke of Sussex co-founded the charity with Seeiso, whose mother died in 2003, after visiting Lesotho during his gap year in 2004. Sentebale was created to help people in Lesotho and Botswana living in poverty and those suffering from HIV and AIDS.
In a separate statement sent to People, former trustees said that there were key issues raised about the charity’s leadership that they felt had been overlooked.
“We are disheartened by the way in which the Charity Commission has chosen to ignore key concerns and irrefutable evidence raised with them regarding the leadership and oversight of Sentebale’s Chair,” the statement read.
“We accept there is always room to strengthen governance of an organization, which is why we welcomed a governance review by the Chair initiated in February 2024, and that should have only taken a matter of months — we unfortunately never saw a report or any outcomes enacted, more than two years into her tenure.”
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“We remain gravely concerned for the future of the charity and the well-being of the communities we served for 19 years, following the mission set out by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso in honour of their mothers,” the statement concluded.
In March, the princes and fellow trustees resigned amid growing tensions with Chandauka. That same month, Chandauka gave an interview to Sky News in which she alleged experiencing “bullying” from the Duke of Sussex and his PR “machine.” She also spoke about an incident at a polo fundraiser last year with Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle.
Chandauka said in her interview that for the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Florida, Harry wanted to bring a Netflix crew to the event, which led the charity to lose its original venue due to increased costs, forcing a switch to a different one.
An additional last-minute change occurred when the Duchess of Sussex, who was not originally planned to be there, attended. She brought along “a very famous friend.”
That later resulted in an awkward moment, said Chandauka.
“The choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage. The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.”
The media attention from that moment prompted Harry to ask that she issue a statement in support of the Duchess of Sussex, Chandauka claimed.
“I said I wouldn’t. Not because I didn’t care about theduchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, No. 1. And No. 2, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”
At the time, a source close to the trustees and patrons told Fox News Digital they fully expected a publicity stunt. The insider noted that they remained firm in their resignation, for the good of the charity, and they looked forward to the adjudication of the truth.
A source familiar with the events countered Chandauka’s claims, noting that both princes sent a resignation letter to the chair and trustees on March 10. They resigned on March 25.
“Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honor of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho, the local language of Lesotho, and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity,” Harry and Seeiso said in a joint statement obtained by Fox News Digital at the time.
“Today is no different. 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. 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,” read the statement.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this report.
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