Prince Harry will not be returning to ‘tarnished’ Sentebale charity he co-founded after bullying row

Prince Harry will not return to the ‘tarnished’ HIV/AIDS charity set up in Africa in honour of his mother because of a bitter feud with its chair, sources say.

Sentebale – a charity co-founded by the prince in Lesotho in 2006 – has been in a funding crisis since he left as a patron in March this year after his public falling out with chair, Sophie Chandauka.

The row ended with Mrs Chandauka accusing the Duke of Sussex of bullying, racism and misogyny and the duke abandoning the project all together.

Donations were lost as the argument rolled through headlines while mass resignations ran through the board of directors; the Charity Commission also produced a damning report of the state of affairs.

Sources close to the charity told The Times: ‘The idea that Harry was ever going to return has been completely extinguished.

‘There’s absolutely no way now. It’s all too tarnished.’

Redundancies have ripped through the organisation globally, with reports one in five employees in Botswana were cut – including the country director, Ketlogetswe Montshiwa.

Sources in Botswana told The Times the charity was ‘not working at all’, adding that there was a ‘real cash flow problem’, with operations in Lesotho ‘getting into the red’.

Prince Harry helped set up the Sentebale charity in memory of his mother Princess Diana. The charity helps children and young people in Africa come to terms with their HIV/AIDS diagnoses

Prince Harry will not return to the charity after leaving in March following the feud, sources say, after he called the situation ‘untenable’

In London, all but one of its staff members were laid off in August, while local reports in Lesotho say that their headquarters has been ‘effectively mothballed’ – something that the charity denies, saying the centre ‘remains fully operational’.

The cuts were made in an effort to reduces costs by £1million as published accounts show Sentebale ran dangerously low on its reserves in 2024 – there was just £207,000 in the bank in December 2024 when debts were taken in to account, down from £1.5million 16 months earlier.

The charity admitted that this was ‘close to [the] minimum reserves level’ and its annual accounts said that its programmes will shrink by the end of 2026 if new funding is not found.

Troubles began in 2024 when Mrs Chandauka was challenged over a huge £400,000 consultancy bill which board members had said brought little return.

The board asked her to step down as chair, but instead she lashed out with allegations of bullying, misogyny and racism in a complaint to the Charity Commission.

 Finally, trustees resigned en masse, saying Mrs Chandauka’s management was ‘almost dictatorial’ in style.

Prince Harry and co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho followed suit and resigned as patrons, saying the situation was ‘untenable’.

Chandauka then took to the press to double down on her position publicly, accusing the duke of trying to ‘eject’ her through ‘bullying’ and ‘harassment’ which he denied.

Board members resigned en masse during the dispute and called Sophie Chandauka’s management ‘amost dictatorial’ in style

Prince Harry left the charity as a patron with his co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho (pictured)

The Sentabale Polo Cup had been the charity’s biggest fundraiser, bringing in £740,000 a year, but this was ended two years ago

Both parties were condemned for allowing the feud ‘to play out publicly’ by the Charity Commission, which said the dispute ‘severely impacted the charity’s reputation’.

The situation was not helped by the ending of the charity’s top fundraiser, the Sentabale Polo Cup, two years ago. This had raised £740,000 a year.

While finances were in dire straits, staff were given an inflation busting 6.5 per cent pay rise, taking the CEO’s pay to £138,267 a year.

The charity told The Times that it is ‘financially stable and able to continue operating as planned, with robust strategic plans for 2025 and 2026 that remain unchanged’, following its audit in September.

They added that the redundancies in Botswana had been planned since 2023, before the troubles began, and was approved in phases in early 2024 ‘with full country director participation’.

The charity said in its annual report that they, ‘remained on track to directly serve at least 78,000 children and young people across Lesotho and Botswana [in 2025], matching or exceeding its 2024 impact’.