A Sussex has been accused of bullying their staff — and in a swings-and-roundabouts turn of events, it’s not Meghan Markle, for once.
Instead, it’s her husband who’s facing allegations of behaving badly by someone who has worked with him.
The person making these claims is Sophie Chandauka, a Zimbabwean lawyer who is the chair of Sentebale, a charity Prince Harry co-founded more than 20 years ago to help young people with HIV and AIDS.
Working with children and young people in southern Africa, that charity — whose name means “don’t forget me” in Sesotho — was inspired by the memory of his mother, Princess Diana.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday, Chandauka detailed a litany of bad behaviour by the prince.
His alleged misdeeds include appointing people to the board without consulting anyone else, refusing to acknowledge the negative impact his departure from the Royal Family had on fundraising efforts, and — important context alert — his orchestrated attempt to “eject” her from the charity by speaking badly of her to sponsors after she’d raised concerns about the charity’s books.
Chandauka also claims Harry tried to force her to put out a statement in support of Meghan after the duchess was accused of treating Chandauka badly when they shared a podium at a polo fundraiser and the two women appeared to tussle for space near the trophy. (Catnip to the “Meghan Markle is a narcissist” brigade.) She says she refused.
The whole incident, Chandauka adds, was because of an overfull stage caused by Meghan bringing an extra guest up.
That same tournament, she alleges, was already disrupted once by the Sussexes, after Harry’s request to bring a Netflix crew to film it resulted in their original venue jacking the price. She does note, however, that they found a backup venue through the prince’s connections.
She also claimed that Harry’s reputation on the world stage was so bad that he was the “number one risk” to the charity.
It’s just the latest chapter in the messy fallout from the prince’s decision — along with a number of other trustees, including his co-founder, Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso — to step down from the board of Sentebale in protest last week.
The issue? A “broken relationship” with Chandauka, whom they asked to step down as chair, “keeping the well-being of staff in mind,” and who then refused. Instead, she sued the charity to keep the volunteer role.
Last week, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso released a statement about their decision to step down, saying they’re “heartbroken” by having to step down from this charity and that “what’s transpired is unthinkable.”
This move is behind what Chandauka has called “bullying and harassment at scale” after the “Sussex PR machine” was unleashed on her without any warning.
“The only reason I’m here is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director,” she told Sky News. “And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organizations and their family? That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
Previously, Chandauka had released a written response to Harry’s announcement.
“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 wrote, then asking a series of rhetorical questions about why a chair of a charity would report her own trustees to the Charity Commission, implying she had done so, something backed up by the commission.
“Well, because beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir — and the coverup that ensued,” Chandauka wrote.
Prince Harry has not commented directly on any of these allegations, which come the same week that his wife — herself dogged by an ongoing series of workplace bullying allegations, dating back to her time at the palace and recently revived in a Vanity Fair article featuring unflattering claims about working with her on her podcast — has announced that the first products of her As Ever line will go on sale.
It’s unclear whether those jams will be a sweet enough distraction from the ongoing controversy enveloping her other half.
