Prince Harry has officially withdrawn from his charity, Sentebale, after a report accused him of damaging its reputation.
It follows his shock resignation from the charity in March, with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
The pair established Sentebale in 2006, with the goal to provide support for children and young people living in poverty and suffering from HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana.
Since then, the Charity Commission launched a report after the public fallout between the Prince and Sentebale chair Sophie Chandauka.
The watchdog criticised everyone involved for the dispute being made public.
“Sentebale’s problems played out in the public eye, enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity’s reputation, risk[ing] overshadowing its many achievements, and jeopardising the charity’s ability to deliver for the very beneficiaries it was created to serve,” Charity Commission chief executive David Holdsworth said in the ruling.
“This case highlights what can happen when there are gaps in governance and policies critical to charities’ ability to deliver for their cause. As a result, we have issued the charity a Regulatory Action Plan to make needed improvements and rectify findings of mismanagement.”
What was Prince Harry accused of at Sentebale?
Earlier this year, Dr Chandauka alleged that she experienced months of bullying, misogyny, and harassment from Harry, and alleged that he wanted her out of the charity.
In an interview on Sky News on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips in April, she claimed that Harry and his team spoke out against her, and board members were uncomfortable having conversations with him.
However, while he was criticised by the Charity Commission, they did not find any evidence of widespread or systemic bullying and harassment.
“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 the Prince said in response to the findings.
“They also found no evidence of widespread bullying, harassment, or misogyny and misogynoir at the charity, as falsely claimed by the current chair.
“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.
“Sentebale has been a deeply personal and transformative mission for Prince Harry, established to serve some of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana.”
The spokesperson said Harry would find other ways to support children in Botswana and Lesotho.
Why did Prince Harry leave his charity?
In March, Harry released a statement and said he was asked to step down.
“We thank all the trustees for their service over the years and are truly heartbroken they’ve had to follow through with this act,” he said.
“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, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the Charity Commission as to how this came about.
“Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care.”
At the time, the story of his resignation was broken by The Times, where it was understood that she was suing the trustees after they questioned her suitability.
A Sentebale spokesperson also said the charity did not receive notice of Harry’s departure.
