Prince Harry has been vindicated after a watchdog completed its investigation into “concerns” raised about an African charity he stepped down from earlier this year. The Duke of Sussex was embroiled in a bitter row with Sentebale’s chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka, which included various “claims and counter-claims of racism, bullying and mismanagement”. He left his post as patron back in March.
Harry founded Sentebale in honour of his late mother, Princess Diana, in 2006, with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, to help young people and children in southern Africa, particularly those living with HIV and Aids. However, earlier this year, both princes stepped down after several trustees left the organisation following a dispute with Ms Chandauka and requesting her resignation. The Charity Commission said in April that it had opened a regulatory compliance case into Sentebale and has now released its findings, which clear the Duke of any allegations towards him. However, the report also issued a major complaint about the row.
Ms Chandauka had issued a statement in which she alleged there had been “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir”.
She appeared to criticise Harry for going to the press and for what she described as playing “the victim card”. The chairwoman also claimed the duke had tried to “eject” her from the charity through “bullying” and “harassment”.
But the Charity Commission stressed in its findings that it found no evidence of “widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity.” It also said that “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”.
It also announced that it found no evidence of “‘overreach’ by either the chair or the Duke of Sussex as patron, but the Commission is critical of the charity’s lack of clarity in delegations to the chair, which allowed for misunderstandings to occur.”
The watchdog concluded that the “failure to clarify delegations within the charity to the chair, and the failure to have proper processes for internal complaints, both amount to mismanagement in the administration of the charity”.
It added that it expects the charity to set out in writing a “clearly defined” patron role in the future.
The Charity Commission made one complaint regarding the Sentebale row, saying that it should not have been made public and should have been resolved internally.
The watchdog said in its review that it was “not satisfied that public statements made to the media, and public criticism made in television interviews, were conducted in a way that served the charity’s best interests”.
It also pointed out that the delegation of certain powers to the chair was a “confusing, convoluted and poorly governed process, with a lack of clearly defined delegations over time,” adding that the then-trustees “failed to have proper processes and policies in place to investigate internal complaints”.
It stressed that a “lack of clear policies contributed to the failure to resolve disputes”.
In its conclusion, the Charity Commission said its investigation showed that “all the charity’s then trustees contributed to a missed opportunity to resolve issues which led to the dispute,” and set out a Regulatory Action Plan consisting of steps for the current trustees to take, which it will monitor in the future.
Prince Harry said in a statement last April: “From the inception of Sentebale nearly 20 years ago, Prince Seeiso and I have had a clear goal: to support the children and young people in Southern Africa in memory of our mothers.
“What has transpired over the last week has been heartbreaking to witness, especially when such blatant lies hurt those who have invested decades in this shared goal. No one suffers more than the beneficiaries of Sentebale itself.”