Dr. Sophie Chandauka, the head of Sentebale, was allegedly sent a message described as ‘imperious.’
Prince Harry has been accused of sending an ‘unpleasant’ email to a charity leader after she did not publicly support his wife, Meghan Markle.
Dr Sophie Chandauka, the head of African charity, Sentebale, was reportedly sent an ‘imperious’ message following an uncomfortable exchange with the Duchess of Sussex last April.
A video that has recently circulated on social media shows Meghan asking Dr. Chandauka to change her position, moving away from Prince Harry, while they were posing for a photo on the podium at a Sentebale charity polo match.
Harry had captained the winning team in the match, and according to Dr. Chandauka, Meghan arrived at the event last minute, accompanied by Serena Williams and a Netflix camera crew, even though the charity wasn’t informed in advance about her attendance.
According to sources, as reported by the Telegraph, following the awkward moment, Harry reached out to the charity leader, asking her to issue a statement to dispel any rumors of tension.
Yet, Dr. Chandauka explained to Sky News over the weekend that there were two reasons why she declined to issue the statement.
Regarding Meghan’s unexpected appearance at the event, Dr. Chandauka said, “We were excited about it, but we would have been even more excited if we’d known beforehand. Unfortunately, we didn’t, and the stage choreography ended up going poorly because there were too many people on stage.”
She continued, “The international press picked up on this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess, the stage choreography, and whether she should have been there and how she treated me.”
“Prince Harry asked me to release a statement in support of the Duchess, but I refused. It wasn’t because I didn’t care about her, but because I knew the consequences if I did.”
“And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”
Prince Harry then allegedly sent an ‘unpleasant’ email asking that the charity boss ‘explain herself’.
As per the Telegraph, a spokesman for Sentebale confirmed the Duke had sent the message.
“This is true. There is a document,” they said.
The incident is said to have made contribution to the growing tensions between Harry and some members of the organisation, with Harry stepping down as patron of the charity last Tuesday, claiming the ‘relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board had broken down beyond repair.’
Harry set up Sentebale in 2006, in Lesotho, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, in honour of his later mother, Princess Diana, in order to help children and young people particularly those with HIV and Aids – alongside Prince Seeiso.
“The only reason I’m here is because at some point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorised the release of a damaging piece of news to the outside world without informing me or my country directors, or my executive director,” Dr Chandauka told Trevor Phillips.
“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organisations and their family?
“That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
In the interview, Dr Chandauka also made a sh0cking claim, alleging that there had been an attempted ‘cover up’.
“It was me who was the problem because I put a whistleblower complaint about the bullying, the harassment and the misogyny and Prince Harry interfered in the investigation of that. So it’s a cover up – and the Prince is involved,” she said.
