Prince Harry’s African charity is under investigation by U.K. watchdog

Britain’s charity watchdog said Thursday that it was launching an investigation into Sentebale, the charity Prince Harry set up in memory of his mother, Princess Diana.

The Charity Commission said in a statement that it would try to determine whether Sentebale’s “current and former trustees, including its chair, have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities.”

It added that it was in direct contact with the parties who initially raised concerns.

Harry welcomed the investigation, saying that, along with his fellow trustees and patrons, he was relieved “that The Charity Commission confirmed they will be conducting a robust inquiry.”

“We fully expect it will unveil the truth that collectively forced us to resign,” he said in a statement.

The Duke of Sussex and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho co-founded the charity in 2006 in honor of their mothers, Diana and Lesotho’s Queen Mamohato. Sentebale aimed to tackle health issues such as HIV and AIDS, as well as wealth inequity and climate resilience, among young people in the southern African nations of Lesotho and Botswana.

The two princes quit Sentebale last week after a dispute between the trustees and the board chair, Sophie Chandauka. In a joint statement, they said they planned to raise concerns with the Charity Commission.

They did not name Chandauka directly, but said the charity’s trustees had asked her to step down without elaborating why.

Chandauka had sued Sentebale “to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship,” they added.

Chandauka subsequently accused Harry of “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir — and the cover-up that ensued.”

In a follow-up interview Sunday with the British broadcaster Sky News, she again accused Harry of “harassment and bullying at scale,” and his “unleashing of the Sussex machine” against her and the organization’s employees. (Sky News is owned by Comcast, the parent company of NBC News.)

But in the same interview, she said that her experience with Harry himself had been “fantastic, actually,” and that they had a “great relationship.” Some people on the charity’s board, she added, “completely disrupted my meetings because they thought that they could get away with mistreating a woman.”

Chandauka, in a statement released after the Charity Commission announced its investigation, said Sentebale welcomed “the clarity this process will bring.”

“Transparency and accountability are central to how we operate,” she said, adding, “We will also continue to work closely with the chair and the new board of trustees to ensure the smooth running of the organization, keeping our focus firmly on delivering for the young people and communities we serve.”

Harry, who stepped down as a working member of Britain’s royal family in 2020, now lives in California with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their two children, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3.

In its statement Thursday, the Charity Commission said that it was “not an adjudicator or mediator,” but was instead guided by the principle of ensuring that trustees fulfill their primary duty to the charity.