A friend of Prince Harry’s has revealed he is shocked and angered by the accusations made against him after he resigned from his charity Sentebale.
The charity provides support for children and young people living in poverty and suffering from HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana. It was jointly founded by Prince Seeiso and Harry in 2006 after he visited Lesotho during his 2004 gap year.
Alex Rayner, who went to school with the monarch and accompanied him to the North Pole, exclusively told the Daily Mail he was “grief-stricken” about what had unfolded.
“H is very happy for me to speak for him about how he feels about this awful situation,” he said.
“He is just beyond heartbroken and flabbergasted that the charity he founded as a teenager has been taken hostage by the chair. It feels tantamount to a hostile takeover.”
“He is so upset and hurt and wounded about the things that are being said about him. I think it’s too early to tell whether he will just walk away now or whether he might try and get it back.
“The way he feels is as if he has had one of his fingers cut off.”
At the time of publication, Prince Harry has not commented about the matter apart from his initial statement about resigning in solidarity with Sentebale’s board of trustees and co-founder.
However, he did appear in a video message about his sustainable travel initiative Travalyst, what it has achieved, and the importance of travelling consciously.
The fallout from Harry’s resignation
Sentebale chair Sophie Chandauka accused Prince Harry of bullying and harassment after he announced his shock resignation from the charity.
When the news broke of his departure on March 25 GMT, the Duke of Sussex said in a statement that he did so after the relationship between its trustees and the chair of the board “broke down beyond repair”.
He also added the “infighting” created “an untenable situation”.
The Zimbabwe-born lawyer went on Sky News on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips to “set the record straight” about allegations against her.
For the interview, she sat alongside investment banker and board member Iain Rawlinson.
He served as the chair of Prince William’s African conservation charity Tusk Trust from 2002 to 2013 and has also recently been appointed as a trustee on Sentebale’s board.
The chair’s allegations against Prince Harry
Sophie alleged there were months of bullying and harassment from the Prince, who she alleged wanted her out of the charity.
To do this, she claimed board members messaged her when she was not in meetings, updating her on what was said about her. She also alleged that he and his team also spoke out against her.
“Because that is a sure way of getting me out if it seems as though I’m not being successful in my fundraising efforts,” she said in the interview.
Along with this, she said the Prince was the biggest risk to the charity’s success, where board members were uncomfortable to have tough conversations with him.
When she did a seven-year review of the charity’s profits in 2023, she alleged the loss of donations and sponsors was in correlation with Prince Harry’s departure from the UK. After the interview, Trevor said a source claimed this was false.
She also alleged he appointed board members without consulting her and his sudden departure was the “unleashing of the Sussex machine”.
On the Sussexes, the chair said the charity had a venue booked for a polo tournament in Miami in 2024, which was lost when the Duke requested to film there for his Netflix show at the last minute. The streaming giant declined to comment on this.
Unable to afford the new terms established by the owners, they managed to find a new venue, but the filming caused disruptions. She claimed Meghan came along despite saying she would not and brought a friend.
Alleging the Prince asked her to issue a statement in support of the Duchess, she declined because of the risks, and she did not think the charity was an extension of the Sussex brand.
Allegations against the chair
When he announced his departure, Prince Harry released a statement and said she was asked to step down, but she sued the charity to remain as the chair, “further underscoring the broken relationship”.
“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.”
When the story broke of his resignation in The Times, it was understood that she was suing the trustees after they questioned her suitability.
At the time, the Senteable spokesperson also said the charity did not receive notice of Harry’s departure.
In a lengthy statement exclusively to the Daily Mail on March 26, Sophie alleged that there was a “cover-up” at the charity and claimed there was “weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, and misogyny” behind closed doors.
She continued that her actions were “guided by the principles of fairness and equitable treatment for all, regardless of social status or financial means”.
“There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct,” she said.
Speaking to Trevor, she reiterated that there was a cover-up, and the Prince interfered in an investigation.
When asked on Sky News if the Prince engaged in the above-mentioned misogyny, she said they had a great relationship, but alleged the board treated her differently to the previous chair, because they thought they could get away with mistreating a woman.
She was also asked about former trustee Baroness Chalker’s claims that she was “almost dictatorial”. The Baroness retired in November 2024 and told The Times that the chair’s style prompted her departure.
To this, Sophie said change was hard for people, and board members were appointed for too long, which led to dysfunctionality.
Former charity trustees speak out
When Harry left, former trustees Timothy Boucher, Mark Dyer, Audrey Kgosidintsi, Kelello Lerotholi, and Damian West also released a statement and said it was not an easy decision.
“For two decades, Sentebale has championed hundreds of thousands of children and young people, providing them with care, training and life skills, which not only benefit each individual child they support, but their families and their communities as a whole,” they said.
“Today’s decision is nothing short of devastating for all of us, but we see no other path forward as the result of our loss of trust and confidence in the chair of the board.”
They also added that they did it in the best interests of Sentebale and that the breakdown of trust led to the lawsuit against the charity.
Where does this leave Sentebale?
At the end of the interview, Sophie said the charity would have a successful future without the monarch.
“We must stop infantilising Sentebale, Sentebale is 19 years old, Sentebale is here because of the people in Africa who do the work every single day,” she said.
“Prince Harry visited Africa for the first time in five years, when I asked him to, last year.
“Who do you think was running the show during the pandemic before the pandemic and after the pandemic? Sentebale will live, Sentebale will live on because of the people.”
