Two Fridays ago, and just a few days before the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Australia, the media learned that “Sentebale” is suing Prince Harry and Mark Dyer for defamation. Harry co-founded Sentebale and stepped down as Sentebale’s patron last year due to the charity’s chief executive Sophie Chandauka and her mismanagement. Dyer was a founding trustee of Sentebale – and he’s also a father figure to Harry – and he cut ties with Sentebale, along with almost all of the Board of Trustees. Chandauka’s behavior has been asinine and childish throughout, but she’s been enabled every step of the way by a rabid, anti-Sussex British media and the short-sighted, compromised Charity Commission. Soon after the lawsuit became public, we learned that Chandauka is using “external funds” to sue Harry and Dyer, which is just bizarre. It’s telling that none of the British outlets will investigate that as well.
Last week, we learned two more things about Chandauka, the lawsuit and where things fell apart. As it turns out, when Sentebale’s Board of Trustees resigned en masse, they sent a scathing letter to Chandauka, calling out her financial impropriety and her bizarre behavior. Last week, the UK Charity Commission also piped up, questioning the wisdom of Chandauka’s lawsuit. Now the Times of London has a lengthy story about the feeling in Lesotho regarding the defamation lawsuit, and more information about how Sentebale is struggling under Chandauka’s mismanagement.
The decision by Sentebale to sue its own co-founder, Prince Harry, has been described as “self-indulgent” and a “poor use of resources” by a community leader in Lesotho. Khoabane Theko, principal chief of Thaba-Bosiu, warned the High Court action could jeopardise the charity’s work at a time when programmes had already stalled.
“Taking legal action does not help anyone … I would rather they do something to help children,” he said. “This makes it look like the charity’s leadership is focused on its own interests, rather than getting things going.”
…While resigning trustees accused Chandauka of poor governance and damaging vital relationships, she has alleged that the duke’s conduct amounted to “harassment and bullying at scale”, suggesting his public profile, once an asset, had become a liability.
The impact on the charity’s finances has been stark. According to a figure formerly close to the organisation, several longstanding international donors “cooled or fell away” during the dispute, which sources attributed to tensions over leadership. At least one major relationship was said to have been terminated abruptly after a single meeting.
This donor drift has undermined confidence at a critical time. Sentebale’s 2024 accounts show a deficit of about £1.6 million and a significant depletion of a £1.2 million donation from sales of the duke’s memoir, Spare.
Nowhere is the crisis more visible than at the Mamohato Children’s Centre in Lihaseng, Lesotho. Designed as a base for programmes supporting vulnerable children, the site is also used to host events when activities are not running. However, villagers said residential sessions have not been held for months, with one local describing it as “just a place lately to host weddings”. During a visit this week the gates were locked, the grounds appeared unkempt, and the car park sat empty.
Sentebale has said its programmes at the centre operate on a scheduled basis and are not continuously in session, and that its work extends beyond residential activities at the site. It said it continued to deliver support to young people in Lesotho through various programmes.
Theko’s concerns about Sentebale’s legal action were echoed by some former colleagues of Chandauka, who described her as a “dominating” figure who finds it difficult to brook criticism. While she insists the High Court action is privately funded, critics remain focused on her previous stewardship of charity funds — including reports that she commissioned an expensive external consultancy for a website overhaul, only to scrap the project.
Insiders described a pattern of “executive overreach” wherein Chandauka operated well beyond the traditional non-executive role of a chair. It is alleged that she micromanaged operational decisions, blurring the lines between board oversight and daily management. Former colleagues said a similar pattern was evident in Chandauka’s work outside the charity, including at Nandi Life Sciences, a biotech firm she set up with her brother.
A source close to the firm described Chandauka as “very hands-on”, involving herself in “the smallest details”, holding frequent meetings and closely monitoring work. They said she could be “harsh” in her management style and would on occasion “yell” at staff when things went wrong, adding that the environment could be emotionally damaging. “She doesn’t quite enjoy hearing contrary opinions,” the source said, describing a “dominating” approach in which decision-making had become increasingly centralised.
For those in Lesotho who once relied on the charity’s work, the dispute feels far removed from their daily lives. With programmes stalled, donors drifting away and its founders gone, questions remain over whether Sentebale can recover.
There’s more information at the Times about Chandauka’s behavior when she worked at Nandi Life Sciences, like the lack of oversight over the millions of dollars “raised” and the fact that few people know where that money actually went. It certainly sounds like she’s a serial con artist running similar scams wherever she can. Can I just say? I’m reminded again of how unprofessionally this situation was handled across the board in the UK, by both the Charity Commission and the British press. They were all so eager to back anyone criticizing Harry, they empowered this repulsive woman and her lies. This will likely end with Chandauka holding the proverbial bag, but so many people screwed up here. Reading the trustees’ letter just drove that point home – Chandauka is such an obvious whackjob who was already looting and mismanaging charitable funds back in 2024, it’s absolutely crazy that the Charity Commission did nothing to stop her, and that the press is only looking into her background NOW.
Photos and screencaps courtesy of Cover Images and Sky News.
