UK Regulators Swat Harry, His Former Charity

British regulators on Wednesday criticized both sides in a dispute over the future of a charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho for allowing the issue to be played out in public and damaging the organization's reputation. The Charity Commission for England and Wales said it found no evidence of widespread bullying or misogyny at Sentebale, which provides support for young people living with HIV in Botswana and Lesotho. The commission opened a review of Sentebale's governance in April after the two princes stepped down as patrons, and a group of trustees said the relationship between the board and its chair, Sophie Chandauka, was beyond repair, reports the AP. Chandauka later accused Harry of orchestrating a campaign of bullying and harassment to try to force her out.

Disagreements over Sentebale's future surfaced in 2023 after the then-board of trustees sought to roll out a new fundraising strategy in the United States. The dispute between Chandauka, other trustees, and Harry was first reported to the commission in February of this year. Those tensions became public in March, when Harry announced he was stepping down as patron to support the trustees who'd resigned. "Sentebale's problems played out in the public eye, enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity's reputation, risk overshadowing its many achievements, and [jeopardize] the charity's ability to deliver for the very beneficiaries it was created to serve," commission CEO David Holdsworth said Wednesday.

The 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," Harry's rep said in a statement. Harry will now look at alternative ways to help young people in Botswana and Lesotho, the rep said. Chandauka welcomed the report, saying it confirmed the governance issues she raised earlier this year. "The unexpected adverse media campaign that was launched by those who resigned [in March] has caused incalculable damage and offers a glimpse of the unacceptable behaviors displayed in private," she said in a statement. Harry and Seeiso founded Sentebale in 2006 to honor their late mothers.