Sentebale chairwoman Sophie Chandauka gave several interviews in recent days, following the abrupt resignations of Sentebale’s entire board of trustees and Sentebale’s two royal patrons and co-founders, Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry. Chandauka’s Financial Times interview was one of the ugliest pieces I’ve read in the years-long history of this unhinged campaign to harm the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. But honestly, the FT piece pales in comparison to Chandauka’s on-camera interview with Sky News over the weekend. In that interview, she expanded her completely bonkers royalist talking points that Harry’s falling out from the Windsors somehow “hurt” Sentebale, but Sentebale in its current form had outlived its usefulness because she wanted Sentebale to tackle environmental concerns and wealth inequality. Many of us have wondered what the hell Harry and Seeiso plan to do about this woman’s hostile takeover attempt. According to People Magazine’s sources, Harry and Seeiso’s plan is to watch Chandauka punch herself out, I guess.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Saturday, March 29, Sentebale chair Dr. Sophie Chandauka, who took on the role in July 2023, claimed that Harry and his co-founder Prince Seeiso — who resigned as patrons of the organization earlier this week — wanted “to force a failure and then come to the rescue.”
However, a source close to the patrons and trustees tells PEOPLE that their decision to exit the charity was based on Chandauka’s handling of the charity’s finances. (In response, a representative for Chandauka previously told PEOPLE: “First and foremost, like much of the content circulated yesterday, a lot of information being shared is untrue and defamatory in nature.”)
The source adds: “The trustees tried to negotiate this privately and requested she consider her position due to their lack of trust and confidence in her as a leader, as demonstrated by the financial position she put the charity in.”
“They fully expected this publicity stunt and reached their collective decision with this in mind,” the source adds. “They remain firm in their resignation for the good of the charity and look forward to the adjudication of the truth.”
I understand that they’re taking the longer view and sure, maybe it’s a good idea to just sit back and watch her make a horse’s ass out of herself so that everyone can see what they’ve been dealing with. But I also wish they would be a tad more proactive? I think a few on-the-record statements from both Seeiso and Harry would be more than welcome right now. Because holy sh-t, this woman is throwing around some really wild accusations. Her story makes no sense at any point – the stuff about Harry announcing that he was bringing Netflix cameras to a polo match is bizarre, she’s mad about Serena Williams coming to see Meghan AND she’s mad that Meghan came to support her husband’s charity polo match?? She also had this message to Harry: “The team is resolved that Sentebale will live on, with or without you.” The white man beside her is Iain Rawlinson, a longtime ally of Prince William. Rawlinson has been “advising” Chandauka and she appointed him as a new trustee.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencaps courtesy of Sky News.
