And there’s a tie to Princess Diana
Just a few short months ago, The Duke of Sussex visited southern Africa to participate in an event at Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre in Maseru, Lesotho—a nonprofit for people in Lesotho and Botswana living in poverty and those suffering from HIV and Aids. The royal set up the organization—whose name means forget-me-not, a nod to his late mother Princess Diana’s favorite flower—along with the country’s Prince Seeiso back in 2006.
But now Prince Harry has revealed that both he and his co-founder have stepped down as patrons of Sentebale after trustees quit over a dispute with the new chair, The Times reports.
Per the news outlet, the royal and Prince Seeiso released a joint statement saying: “Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honour of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho, the local language of Lesotho, and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity.
“Today is no different. With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same. It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
While the details of the decision are still unclear, per the news outlet, there has been fighting within the organization due to the choice of the chair of the board of trustees and “a decision to focus fundraising largely in Africa.” Per the report, recent internal tumult has led the organization to be the subject of a Charity Commission investigation. Judging from the statement, the unanimous resignation of the co-founders and trustees appears to be the only path forward—and one that protects the charity’s efforts in the long run, but most importantly, the communities it serves.
Prince Harry is involved in multiple charitable endeavors including the Invictus Games and Archewell, which he launched stateside with Meghan Markle after the pair left their roles as senior members of the royal family in 2020. That said, Sentebale has always been especially significant and meaningful to the prince, not only for the work, but for its ties to his late mother Princess Diana. Per the Times, the decision to vacate was “not a choice willingly made.”
Prince Harry resigns from his own charity after ‘unthinkable infighting’ with board chair
Prince Harry has sensationally stepped down from his own organisation, with a leaked letter revealing the duke felt it was “beyond repair”.
Prince Harry has made the “devastating” decision to resign from his charity after “unthinkable infighting” with the board chair, it is understood.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, set up African charity Sentebale in 2006 in memory of his mother, Princess Diana, along with friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
In a statement seen by The Times, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso have now revealed they are siding with the charity’s trustees after they unanimously resigned following a row with board chair Sophie Chandauka.
Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Picture: Brian Otieno/Getty Images for Sentebale
Harry pictured with Board Chair Dr. Sophie Chandauka MBE, at The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October. Picture: Brian Otieno/Getty Images for Sentebale
MORE: Prince Harry’s $200m UK secret revealed
Speaking to The Sun, the Zimbabwean lawyer, who was appointed last year, said she had acted with integrity as a “proud African” despite facing “bullying, harassment, misogyny”.
She is understood to be suing the trustees over calls for her to stand down from the post.
In the Princes’ statement, which is yet to be publicly released, they said: “With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same.
“It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
They added: “What’s transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the Charity Commission as to how this came about.”
The Charity Commission has confirmed that an investigation is underway into the charity, which was set up to support those living with HIV and AIDS in Africa.
A spokesperson told The Sun, “We can confirm that we are aware of concerns about the governance of Sentebale.
“We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps.”
Harry and wife Meghan Markle have attended a number of events in support of the prince’s charity Sentebale. Picture: Dan Charity / POOL / AFP
Sentebale has not received formal resignations from either of the royal patrons, it is understood.
However, it confirmed to The Sun that a “restructuring” of the board had taken place.
Harry, who has also undertaken charity work with Meghan as part of The Archwell Foundation, set up Sentebale after visiting Lesotho on his gap year in 2004.
It was on the trip that he met his future co-founder, Prince Seeiso, who had also lost his mum the year before.
In the statement, the pair said they had started the charity, which means “forget-me-not”, in honour of their mums.
They added that they had no choice but to support the trustees, who had acted in the best interest of the charity.
A statement provided to The Times by former trustees Timothy Boucher, Mark Dyer, Audrey Kgosidintsi, Kelello Lerotholi and Damian West stated that Chandauka’s lawsuit had been initiated to “block us from voting her out.”
A spokesperson for Sentebale said: “We are pleased to confirm the restructuring of our Board on 25 March 2025 to introduce experts with the capabilities and networks to accelerate Sentebale’s transformation agenda as announced last year.
“In April 2024, Sentebale signalled its evolution from a development organisation focused on addressing the impact of HIV/AIDS on the lives of children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana, to one that is addressing issues of youth health, wealth and climate resilience in Southern Africa.
“Our highly successful Return to Southern Africa (RTSA) campaign with prospective international funders in October 2024 demonstrated Sentebale’s potential in these domains.
“The RTSA was followed by the announcement of Carmel Gaillard as our Interim Executive Director based in Johannesburg in December 2024.
“This followed Sentebale’s confirmation of its strategy to redeploy senior roles to be proximate to most of the team and programs in Southern Africa.
“The recalibration of the Board is, therefore, part of Sentebale’s ambitious transformation agenda.”
It is not the first time the Duke has faced controversy over his charity work, after the Archwell Foundation was accused of failing to submit records – and pay a bill last year.
Harry and Meghan responded with a chipper message about their recent charity trip to Nigeria.
A statement on their website read: “The Duke and Duchess would like to extend their deepest gratitude to all the event organisers, military officials and the whole Nigerian community for their tremendous hospitality and the first of many memorable trips.”.
Newly released Prince Harry immigration documents are heavily redacted and don’t address drug use
Government lawyers contend the public’s right to know doesn’t overcome individual privacy concerns.
Court documents released Tuesday offered few glimpses into Prince Harry’s entrance to the U.S., as federal officials argued that the royal would suffer needless “harm” and “harassment” if detailed records were released.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, had been seeking more information about Harry’s move to America, via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The group hoped that previously sealed court filings and transcripts could shed light on whether the Duke of Sussex had been asked, or addressed on his own, issues about past drug use before moving to a home near Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, the former Meghan Markle.
The heavily redacted documents made public on Tuesday seemed to align with “the continued assertion that the privacy interests outweigh the public interest,” said Mary Hoopes, who teaches immigration law at Pepperdine University Law School.
“To release his exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others,” according to a declaration by Jarrod Panter, chief FOIA officer for the Department of Homeland Security
“There is the potential of harm in the form of harassment if his exact (redacted) is revealed. Thus, there is significant privacy interests involved in the records.”
The Heritage Foundation has argued that there is “intense public interest” in whether Harry received special treatment during the application process, particularly after his 2023 memoir “Spare” revealed past drug use.
In the memoir, Harry admitted to using cocaine, among other drugs.
“Of course I had been taking cocaine at that time. At someone’s house, during a hunting weekend, I was offered a line, and since then I had consumed some more,” he wrote in a Spanish-language version of his book.
“It wasn’t very fun, and it didn’t make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different.”
While admitting to drug use doesn’t necessarily prevent people from entering the U.S., lying about it during the application process could carry severe consequences.
“If he lied, that gets you deported,” Heritage Foundation attorney Samuel Dewey told reporters in February. “People are routinely deported for lying on immigration forms.”
US government court filings keep Prince Harry’s immigration forms secret
WASHINGTON (AP) — Heavily redacted court filings released Tuesday shed no fresh light on the circumstances under which Prince Harry entered the United States, the latest development in a legal fight by a conservative group that is pushing to find out whether Harry lied about past drug use on his immigration forms.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials responded to a request from U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols by saying the records were being “withheld in full” and that all records are deemed “categorically exempt from disclosure.”
The case has centered on the circumstances under which Harry — the Duke of Sussex and the son of King Charles III — entered the U.S. when he and his wife Meghan Markle moved to Southern California in 2020. The Heritage Foundation sued after DHS largely rejected its Freedom of Information Act request to release Harry’s records. Harry is not a party in the lawsuit.
Heritage has argued there is “intense public interest” in knowing whether Harry received special treatment during the application process, particularly after his 2023 memoir “Spare” revealed past drug use. Harry has not consented to having his records made public, said Shari Suzuki, an official handling Freedom of Information Act requests for DHS and Customs and Border Protection.
“To release (Prince Harry’s) exact status could subject him to reasonably foreseeable harm in the form of harassment as well as unwanted contact by the media and others,” another official, DHS chief FOIA officer Jarrod Panter, wrote.
Panter wrote that the Heritage Foundation bears “the burden of establishing that the public interest in disclosure outweighs an individual’s personal privacy interests in their information and that a significant public benefit would result from the disclosure of the individual’s records.”
Panter’s statement to the court includes multiple pages that are entirely blacked out.
Harry wrote in “Spare” that he took cocaine several times starting around age 17. He also acknowledged using cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.
“It wasn’t very fun, and it didn’t make me feel especially happy as seemed to happen to others, but it did make me feel different, and that was my main objective. To feel. To be different,” he wrote.
The U.S. routinely asks about drug use on its visa applications, a query that has been linked to travel headaches for celebrities, including chef Nigella Lawson, singer Amy Winehouse and model Kate Moss. Acknowledgment of past drug use doesn’t necessarily bar people from entering or staying in the country, but answering untruthfully can have serious consequences.
In a February hearing on the issue, Judge Nichols said he was seeking to strike a balance between revealing too much information in the DHS statements and redacting them to the point of meaninglessness.
“There’s a point where redactions would leave just a name or a date,” he said.
Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed to this report.
