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Last week, we reported on the news that Prince Harry has stepped down from Sentebale, a charitable organization that he co-founded in 2006.
It was clear at the time that Harry had clashed with Sentebale CEO Sophie Chandauka.
Some of the details of the conflict remain mysterious, but the picture is coming into clearer focus every day.
Sophie allegedly clashed with Meghan Markle at a photo-op
According to a new report from Page Six, the trouble began when Meghan started “barking orders for [Sophie] to stand elsewhere in a photo-op.”
Meghan made a surprise appearance at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Wellington, Florida last summer, and Chandauka was forced to shuffle around to let her into a group photo.
In reality, Meghan didn’t “bark orders.” She merely asked Sophie, “You want to come over here?” Still the awkward clip quickly went viral.
“We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time [Meghan was coming], but we didn’t,” Sophie said in a new interview with Sky News.
“And so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage,” she explained.
“The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.”
Sophie says that Harry asked her to issue a statement “in support” of Meghan amid the controversy. She refused.
“Not because I didn’t care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one,” she explained. “And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”
Sophie claims that Harry then sent her an even harsher note, in which he asked her to “explain herself.”
“I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes,” she said, going on to accuse Harry of “harassment and bullying.”
According to royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, that incident was the beginning of the end for Sentebale.
In a new interview with the Daily Mail, Fitzwilliams claims that “the ferocious feud that has split Sentebale” will be “a bitter blow to [Harry].”
Harry announced his departure from Sentebale last week in a sternly worded statement.
“What’s transpired is unthinkable,” he wrote. “It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair.”
Needless to say, it sounds like there’s more drama to come from this situation.
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry Accused of Bullying Non-Profit CEO was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.