I feel for PH on this because the charity is dear to him, and it sounds like his typical impression-management strategies made what was a looming bad situation worse. Like you, I don’t believe he is racist or misogynistic, but that the typical high-hat tactics of his Duchess contributed to a deterioration of relationships at Sentebale.
In other articles, Chandauka seems to be trying to move Sentebale away from being a western white male charitable organisation into becoming more African, which seems laudable, especially as Harry’s brand has definitely become somewhat tarnished. Whatever the ins and outs, however, it is yet another example of H and M’s staggeringly bad luck over the timing of their endeavours with bad press.
The bad luck over their timings is shockingly bad. So bad that if I hadn’t been following along the whole time, it would seem impossible to have timing this bad. And yet, they do
Some of the bad luck is of their own making. This situation in particular seems to be of Harry's own making, because he prioritized his Netflix project over his "beloved" Sentebale, being more than happy to monetize a charity (a charity!) for the sake of his Polo show, which then sank without a trace.
Agreed that some is their own timing, but wanting to launch out from the royal family and then the world shutting down for Covid, or M trying to relaunch and QEII passing away, that is some brutal timing
Well, on the QEII passing around the relaunch, that was totally their own poor decision and timing. We all saw HMQEII in the days before she died and she looked really bad, even though she was meeting with world leaders. They had the option of connecting (and not leaking) with the family to find out the situation or to be the people they ultimately are, they chose the later. Same with the Oprah interview. Having that air while PP was on his deathbed was a definite choice. Covid, that was totally not their fault BUT, BUT they could have used that time to strategize, build a plan, meet with people and really launch into the world when it opened back up but instead they chose to nurse their grievances in isolation. That was actually a gift of time to prepare and they failed at that extraordinarily spectacularly.
If you've read Tom Bower's book, you will see that is a pattern with Meghan, even in college. A world class education and she couldn't be bothered to dig any deeper than superficial learning of theater. She specifically rejected any schooling to deepen her craft of acting. PH is exactly the same, he was raised in a bubble so he wouldn't know how to strategize his way out of a paper bag, but you would expect more from someone who had the education and the proximity to self-mades.
You know what they say about luck? It's when preparation meets opportunity and they fail at the preparation part over and over, so that they miss the opportunity completely. They are the architects of their own poor timing (even Covid).
Meghan should have stood up for Chandauka. She's an African woman in a leadership position - ultra vulnerable. Meghan should have called her, buried the hatchet, and protected her. But nope. And now her and H are in the soup.
A lot of the bullying allegations seem to center around women. For as much as Meghan parrots feminist talking points, she appears to be very competitive with actual women. Additionally, we all saw the photo of Wimbledon stadium disaster, it's not hard at all to imagine that diva behavior happening in other venues.
Yup, Way too much smoke for there not to be fire. Meghan does not play nice with other women. I believe Harry himself admitted in Spare to making the female staff cry but of course he spun it in a way to make him and Meghan the victims and that the staff was not doing their jobs properly.
There is so much evidence that Meghan is a bully and that she is ultra-competitive with any woman in her orbit. And Harry is right there with her, defending her every step of the way.
At a certain point you become responsible for your "bad luck." They've consistently made terrible decisions which have contributed to the bad luck. Covid threw the world for a loop but many people used that time to launch successful ventures. They're always in too much of a rush (so much so that they can't even file the necessary paperwork for trademarks, etc) because they're always responding to external events and trying to overshadow the royal family. If they would take a moment to really think about things maybe they wouldn't mess up so much. Who said Meghan had to relaunch immediately, exactly when Prince Philip was dying and the Queen was declining? She had to grab the spotlight immediately, when it would have been much smarter to sit back and wait.
I am interested to see if Dr. Sophie has the receipts for all of her claims. She is an Oxford educated lawyer so would think she would be smart enough to be ready to provide proof. I thought she came across as credible and articulate in the interview she did on Sky News. Agree that this is disastrous for both Harry and Meghan for separate reasons. Meghan already has so much negative press from the Netflix show and upcoming podcast( which sounds incredibly boring). I fear this will have devastating consequences for Harry. He already has very little on his plate. Now he is just left with Invictus. However, I do wonder how much time has spent with Sentable since leaving the BRF. Dr Sophie said in her interview that he hadn’t been to Lesotho in 6 years until she asked him to go on Oct 2024.
Very petty of me but I think it's good Harry got a taste of the same medicine he and Meghan dished out to Kate and Charles. What Meghan and Harry alleged about them was just so cruel and damaging. But I agree definitely a case of clashed egos. Very interested to see how this all plays out. According to Rebecca English this isn't the first time there have been a disagreement about Meghan's involvement in the charity. She spoke on Palace confidential about Audi pulling out of sponsoring a charity polo match after Meghan's involvement behind the scenes.
Not sure what is going on with Sentebale and Dr. Chandauka, but I have a question - don't stone me, please: Do y'all recall when Catherine made an unannounced appearance at the Angelsey Ring of Fire ultra-marathon right after George was born? She was welcomed and all was well (plus no faus pax during the event). Excluding for a moment the camera crew and weird trophy exchange, why is Meghan's unannounced appearance considered inappropriate? Because it was a more formal event? Not really defending her, just asking.
Now, once we do include the Netflix camera crews, wouldn't Sentebale want the camera crews? Perhaps the Netflix people realized Meghan had nothing for filming and wanted to cover the polo event. I dunno.
Once we add in the weird trophy exchange, we are back to odd-duck Meghan behavior.
To answer your first question, I think everyone knows that as soon as Meghan is here, she has to be taken care of, she needs champagne etc... well she behaves like a diva, making a lot of fuss and she wants to have everybody at her beck and call which is not always possible!
As for your second question Dr Chandauka explained on Skynews that when a venue is booked for a charitable event it can't suddenly become a commercial event which it necessarily becomes if the Netflix crews are on the premices. It seemed to me that it was first and foremost the legal aspect that was at stake.
Makes a lot of sense re: Netflix. You can't just show up with a film crew and expect people to want to be filmed, even if they were just passing through. Netflix is not a news crew. I imagine releases would need signing, explanations given, etc.
In addition, Dr. Chandauka explained that signed releases would have been acquired in advance from all attendees if Netflix was to be there. Makes sense.
I recall that event in Anglesey, and I think Kate's appearance was a surprise to those in attendance, not to the organizers. Also, her participation was limited to this: "Kate joined the crowd in counting down from 10, before William rung a large bell and the runners took off in a pack." It doesn't sound as if she expected any special, um, "duchess" treatment and didn't insert herself into the handing out of awards.
When one is a charity, there is a huge concern of mixing commercial business (Harry & Meghan personal documentary) with a charity. It can become a legal and tax nightmare and can create really poor look for the Charity -with funders asking if their money is actually going to fund Harry & Meghan's personal business. That kind of cross over is a strict no-no if you are doing things appropriately and above board.
I think perhaps the event organizers knew that Catherine was going to go, but it was a surprise to the press.
I think there was a lot going on with that event in Miami. It was meant to be a charity fundraiser and they got the field below market value. Once Harry and Meghan brought in Netflix, it became commercial and the field owners said no. You need to pay me if Netflix is coming in...and on and on. So they had to find a location Sentebale could afford...then Meghan wasn't going and then she shows up with Serena Williams.
Meghan will not be happy about all of this. The last thing she wants is to have the world reminded of the toxic workplace & bullying allegations as she prepares to launch her products this week and her podcast next week. The most interesting thing about all of this to me is, Harry asking to have the chair of his charity issue a statement defending his wife. As she showed up unannounced with Serena and after his actions with Netflix made them rearrange the entire event. Seems they only ever think of themselves.
The first thing I thought of when I heard about the Sentebale kerfuffle the other day was that this is yet another page from Harry's "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets" book, which we first learned about before the wedding with tiaragate and Angela Kelly. I was also reminded of that bit in "Courtiers" about how Harry was constantly at war with the media and BP and "every infraction was a big deal", and that his obsessions, frustrations, distrust of others -- as great as they had alway been -- got even worse after he met Meghan.
I have to say that of all the things Harry is or isn’t, I don’t think he’s a misogynist or racist. I mean, has he said things in jest/“jokes” in the past as a youth/young adult that are tasteless and crude etc? Yep. But I don’t see him currently as those adjectives. I was lurking around on X this morning and a pretty big article/write up came across my feed. I would say while I originally might have been skeptical on the reasons why Harry and the other fellow stepped down, after reading direct quotes from Miss Chandauka, I would say she has some issues in this as well. So, I find the entire thing to be very muddied and I suppose time will tell.
I’ve noticed it’s been very quiet on the social media accounts that are sympathetic to Harry and Meghan. They absolutely don’t know what to do with this story.
I’ve noticed this too! Absolutely nothing from Amanda or Elizabeth and close to nothing from Meredith. I believe they worry about upsetting their base which is now solely comprised of Sussex Fans. How do you handle a highly successful woman accusing Harry & Sentebale of misogynoir when you’ve spent years bashing the entirety of the royal family and press for the same thing? I guess you say absolutely nothing but lose all credibility.
Elizabeth eagerly fires off angry IG posts when there’s any whiff of controversy about the royal family. One time she furiously posted about Prince William’s supposed racist comment about the war in Ukraine from March of 2022, then had to apologize when it turned out to be untrue. But even after saying sorry she said Prince William deserved the criticism anyway. She did the exact same thing when it was falsely reported that Queen Camilla invited Jeremy Corbyn to a luncheon. It was untrue but Elizabeth said she deserved the criticism anyway. She’s absolutely insufferable. Sad because I used to enjoy So Many Thoughts.
Ugh, Elizabeth is the worst! Now she's trying to copy Meghan's wardrobe from the show. Unfollowed her a long time ago and looks like many others did too.
Yes Matta. And Elizabeth Holmes and Meredith Constant. Holmes has her Instagram So Many Thoughts stories and has been around for a long time, but her content has seriously gone downhill the past five years. She’s just a Sussex appreciation account now, when she’s not scolding Kate, William, and Charles. Meredith has only recently been in the royal commentary world. She claims to be an expert in media literacy. Her royal commentary is heavily shaded by her politics, much like Elizabeth. Where they both end up is that Meghan and Harry are almost always right, and Harry’s family and the press are almost always wrong.
That validates my thoughts. I once loved Elizabeth Holmes fashion commentary. But she got sooo political and soooo pro Meghan that I stopped following her.
Agree. Matta does no research at all. On the abdication crisis she said there was no constitutional crisis because it was mainly the Church that was upset with the King--uh, the King was the head of the Church and defying its rules on divorce; the PM had consulted Commonwealth countries and the three English political parties which all found marrying Wallis Simpson was unacceptable. That's a constitutional crisis. She also criticized the Princess of Wales for not getting right back to work "like any other working mother" after announcing the end of her treatment, which is just mean. And she thought the end of treatment and being in remission were the same thing, which is stunningly ignorant. She exemplifies the TikTok issue of people just talking and spreading misinformation. Holmes researches a bit more, but seems mainly to be about selling merchandise now.
Perhaps this charity has simply run its course it started as a small personal initiative between Harry and his friend no doubt his then staff had the day to day running and now he has moved on and so has the environment in which the charity operates it’s not unusual for people to blame each other in these situations but I think they would be better thinking of a constructive way to save any remains good elements maybe asking a larger non profit to absorb it
"I don’t think I would say it generated 'huge publicity.' I don’t think newspapers or tv broadcasters were focusing on it. But underscores how much Meghan follows and obsesses over social media that this incident escalated" I suspect that Harry and Meghan, who were using the footage for his Netflix Polo show, were not happy with how the presentation appeared on film, with all the moving and ducking etc, though this would be down to Meghan's unexpected (ha!) appearance on stage.
I agree that this is sad for Prince Harry but it also reveals how little he understands the projects he supports. Just taking a quick look at the Sentebale website, what jumps out to me is that there is little local representation on the board. Of the trustees who resigned with Prince Harry three are British friends (Damian Lewis, Mark Dyer, Tim Boucher). Two women who stayed are medical doctors, one based at Johns Hopkins and one based in London. I see that there is a celebrity fund-raising component and subject-area expertise in HIV. But more representation from Africans would help the Board evaluate local proposals and it's better PR. Ultimately, I don't think Meghan caused this problem, but Meghan getting grabby with the trophy and the limelight underscored the marginalization of the Africans they are supposed to help. It's tone-deaf, even if there are big personality clashes underpinning this fracture of the Board.
That's interesting that three of the trustees who resigned are Harry's British friends. As I remember it, and was reminded of it, this was Harry's pet project, founded in 2006. This was the middle of Harry's Africa years, wasn't it? When Harry was dating Chelsy Davy, when he was rumored to be considering settling in Africa somewhere. In fact, even after he married Meghan, it was rumored (again, always rumors) that he wanted to move to Africa.
The actual history of Sentebale began through Harry's meeting Prince Seeiso in Lesotho during Harry's gap year in 2004, when he was 19. I think that Harry is genuinely a caring person and, hearing of the AIDS issues among young people in Lesotho he thought of partnering with Seeiso for a charity. Just as he did with Invictus ten years later. It's interesting to read the Wikipedia history of Sentebale, which highlights (with footnotes) that there were issues with Sentebale right from the first with administrators being paid big bucks (compared to what was being raised and what needed to be disseminated.) The whole story is complicated and has been simmering for years. Harry referred to the "CBE scandal" in his book I believe (disclaimer: haven't read the book but it was referred to in reviews.) It's sad that it has to explode like this so publicly and that, as you write Lori, personality clashes have to take the foreground rather than an analysis of what it would take to get Sentebale back to its original mission of helping the young people of Lesotho.
There was coverage in the more respected British papers including the Times an the Guardian. I think that it is interesting that Dr. Chanduka refers to a larger team providing the publicity that represents Harry and Megan and that the charity was not informed of any of the statements that came out ahead of time. Even those on the ground in Africa. I don't think anyone expected her to fight back.
Canadian royals writer Patricia Treble’s Substack, Write Royalty, wrote about Sentebale's finances over the weekend, based on her study of their annual financial accounts since its founding in 2006, using public info from the UK Companies House website. She wrote that that Sentebale's annual income has been "effectively flat for the last decade, maxxing out at £4.55 million in 2022 before falling to £3.4 million in 2023". In 2022, the org got £1 million from Harry from his "Spare" royalties, £1.55 million from the big annual polo match, and £805,000 from institutional donors. Also, for 2022, Treble reports that Sentebale spent £821,000 on fundraising (which is almost as much as it got from Harry via his royalties); in 2023, it spent only £386,000 on fundraising. Interesting to see the difference from one year to the next. I’m a free subscriber so I couldn’t read the rest.
The 2022 amount from institutional donors (£805,000) is pitifully small — and the total in 2022 especially dependent on Harry, between the polo and book royalties — and given these annual amounts, the charity does not seem sustainable. It does seem odd that even from 2006 to 2020 (Megxit) when Harry was a full working royal with all the support that entails, there wasn’t more work done to broaden and increase fundraising for Sentebale. I seem to recall Audi being involved, and there was a rumor/story before Megxit about Harry and Meghan trying to pressure Audi to increase their annual donation to $1 million, but I can’t recall any of the details. Maybe someone else here does?
Hi Joanna - Charlotte Griffiths had some interesting insights at Palace Confidential (about the 36 min mark on their YouTube channel.
She said Meghan didn't think The Royal Foundation (at the time) asked enough from Sponsors. The biggest sponsor was Audi and they had a rosie relationship with the foundation. Enter Meghan, she wanted to formalize the relationship and throwing around big numbers between 1-2 million and Audi backed off and hasn't been seen since. This is a HUGE deal to Sentebale since their fundraising seems totally reliant on Harry's polo charity games and he hasn't been playing much. He won't play in the UK where presumably it's cheaper, but went to Japan, which seems like there wouldn't be much left after expenses....anyway...thought the Audi insight was interesting. After all, didn't Meghan say, we should be "monetizing" charity work and while in Australia 2018 said, "I should be getting paid for this."
I think this is the kind of story where everyone involved will end up looking bad. That viral clip at the podium after the polo match is interesting. You can see that there is space in the middle for Dr Sophie. She seems to be the last person they are waiting for to take the photo. She's there at the podium because she's the chairwoman of Sentebele, not because anyone actually knows her name. Meghan directs her to her 'place' and I don't see anything particularly wrong with that. The only thing wrong is that she is made to duck under the trophy. Is that rude? Maybe. You can see that the photo doesn't work with Dr Sophie standing next to PH. Once she gets into place, everything looks good for a photo.
As always, you need to bring receipts for these kinds of allegations. It seems the Sussexes are difficult to work for, but is that news to Dr Sophie? She's an extremely high caliber professional. Was a project like Sentebale so important for her to have on her resume? There are a number of charities she could start herself in Africa or become a part of. Why work for an 'entitled' English prince? Why join a charity that she thinks isn't being run well?
A decent reason to rejoin a charity where you have served on the board in the past could be to right the ship of a worthwhile cause.
This is not about rude people at photo ops who think they should be at the center of every photo. That's just the petty junior high antics stuff that gets pulled all the time.
It certainly isn't that Dr. Chandauka needed this on the resume. She has so much more going on re: education, experience, expertise than Harry or Meghan could ever dream of owning. He has his DNA and she married it and that's it.
Sentable themselves announced re Dr. Chandauka appointment:
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Sophie Chandauka MBE as the new Chair of the Board. Previously, she served on the Sentebale Board from 2009-2015.
Sophie is a Zimbabwe-born executive with experience leading strategy, legal and operations functions for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Virgin Money, Baker McKenzie and Meta. She is Chair and Co-founder of Nandi Life Sciences, a US based biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics for rare cancers and auto-immune diseases. Sophie is also Chair and Executive Founder of the Black British Business Awards. In 2021, she was awarded an MBE for extraordinary contributions to diversity in business. Sophie grew up in southern Africa, and, through various prestigious scholarships, was educated in Canada, the U.S. and U.K.
.....
P.S. I don't get the hostility here towards Dr. Chandauka. RE: "she is on stage Not because anyone actually knows her name"... Is it really more important that anyone knows her name or to actually be the respected chair of the organization?? Or more like the disrespected chair of the organization. Or maybe her African name is just too hard to know? Or maybe she doesn't seek/need adulation? So, she's some no name and it's not worth bothering about her in the photo (?) never mind she is the chair of the organization. Meghan is way more central (important?) because of her notoriety? To me that sounds just like people presume Meghan thinks.
Maybe I didn’t explain myself well. I’m aware of Dr Sophie Chandauka’s accomplishments and I think she would have been able to sniff out poor governance at Sentebale very quickly. I’m wondering why she’s decided to take a public stance now when she’s been serving the charity for a few years.
Yes, maybe in retrospect she should have given this role a pass. Maybe she wishes she had. It could be true that she believed in the charity so much that she took it on anyway and was discreet about turning it around. The turning around ruffled a lot of feathers. She's leading the charity, not working for Harry and certainly not working for Meghan. But you wouldn't know that from the entitled demand H made of her to smooth over Meghan's rep. He doesn't respect boundaries or understand her role or his role here and his subsequent unannounced quitting was so unprofessional. He acted like an entitled jerk. Not hard to believe at all. Much of old charity models is just dripping with patronizing baggage. Dr. Chandauka is not Meghan's clean up crew. Forging a modern, respectful, responsive to local needs and interests and more local control of the organization is bound to be challenging, especially to those who are used to having their way.
In rewatching the trophy clip, I was struck by how identical Meghan and Ms. Chandauka’s outfits were, so Meghan already wasn’t going to stand out as she expected to. Meghan was clearly pissed off about something. She had that rictus grin on her face that promises trouble for someone once the cameras are off.
Dr. Chandauka's interview on Sky News (it's on Youtube) in the company of one of Sentebale's trustees is devastating. I believe her. I've worked many years in Development Departments of big non-profits and her assessments are spot on. Put aside how smart, articulate, and serene she is in the interview, she knows her stuff. Also, she said that she and Harry had a good relationship until they didn't. For one: when she took over, some Board members had held their positions for more than a decade. That's unheard of; not only is this not a "best practice", but few if any non-profits or charities can flourish when Board members are so entrenched -- unless it's a family foundation or charity. Most Boards have terms for their members for a reason. It was hard for her to do anything new, because the board was stale and devoted to Harry. She also recounted how Harry just sat someone on the Board without telling her. She's the Executive Director! That's absolutely insane. How is she supposed to run the organization if a founder is making decisions and she's the last to know and has no input? She's a South African woman and knows better than Harry how this organization can serve South Africans and fullfil Sentebele's mission. I encourage everyone to see her interview. It's also juicy! She also said that Harry had not visited Africa for five years before 2018? 2019? -- I can't remember, before she asked him to do so. She says that Senetebele has been around for almost 20 years and thrived with his minor input and will continue to go on and thrive without him. She did not sound vindictive at all. She did say that she did not even know Harry had resigned until she saw it in the press, and by that time the "Sussex PR machine," as she calls it, was unleashed to discredit her. She says it started when Harry wanted her to make a statement that Meghan wasn't mean. She refused, because she felt it would be a bad precedent for Sentebele to become part of the Sussex PR machine. That's, according to her, when she and Harry fell out. The PR machine seems to have worked a bit, since people are questioning her motives. Other than that, and even mentioning that, she did not sound vindictive at all. She sounds like a a top notch non-profit ED, who was undermined as a woman -- because she didn't do what Harry wanted her to do to guard Meghan's reputation. I encourage anyone interested in this palace intrigue to watch her interview on SKY News. She's a professional. Meghan and Harry are going to have a hard time wiggling out of this one. She also reiterated that she has documentation to back up all that she says. And Dr. Chandauka is a well respected lawyer and leader in South Africa. Good luck escaping THESE bullying rumors, Haz and Megs.
She’s Nigerian actually. I am not 100 in her camp and tend to agree with Jane that this is a clash of a lot of egos. I think things aren’t going well and she has to figure out who to blame and H and M are entitled and have made their share of mistakes so ….
When Dr Sophie told the story about having to find another venue for the polo since H wanted Netflix to come in I just rolled my eyes. And that explains why Meghan showed up - no Netflix no Meghan!!!
Nigerian. Thank you for clarifying that. I'm not sure I have enough information to assign ego to Dr. Sophie's behavior. Has she sought the spotlight before this blowup? Has she demanded the spotlight as ED of the organization? And her main focus during the SKY interview was the state of Sentebale. She focused on herself only when questions were posed to her. Also, the inciting incident was Harry's public resignation and comments. Who would stay quiet if their reputation was being sullied by accusations of mismanagement? I'm guessing no one thought she would fight back. And because she is standing up for herself, negative characteristics are being assigned to her behavior. This happens to women all the time. She seems incredibly self assured and confident, which is impressive.
I found it interesting that the case at the charity commission was made almost a month ago. Not a word to the media until she was forced to defend herself.
I feel for PH on this because the charity is dear to him, and it sounds like his typical impression-management strategies made what was a looming bad situation worse. Like you, I don’t believe he is racist or misogynistic, but that the typical high-hat tactics of his Duchess contributed to a deterioration of relationships at Sentebale.
In other articles, Chandauka seems to be trying to move Sentebale away from being a western white male charitable organisation into becoming more African, which seems laudable, especially as Harry’s brand has definitely become somewhat tarnished. Whatever the ins and outs, however, it is yet another example of H and M’s staggeringly bad luck over the timing of their endeavours with bad press.
The bad luck over their timings is shockingly bad. So bad that if I hadn’t been following along the whole time, it would seem impossible to have timing this bad. And yet, they do
Some of the bad luck is of their own making. This situation in particular seems to be of Harry's own making, because he prioritized his Netflix project over his "beloved" Sentebale, being more than happy to monetize a charity (a charity!) for the sake of his Polo show, which then sank without a trace.
Agreed that some is their own timing, but wanting to launch out from the royal family and then the world shutting down for Covid, or M trying to relaunch and QEII passing away, that is some brutal timing
Well, on the QEII passing around the relaunch, that was totally their own poor decision and timing. We all saw HMQEII in the days before she died and she looked really bad, even though she was meeting with world leaders. They had the option of connecting (and not leaking) with the family to find out the situation or to be the people they ultimately are, they chose the later. Same with the Oprah interview. Having that air while PP was on his deathbed was a definite choice. Covid, that was totally not their fault BUT, BUT they could have used that time to strategize, build a plan, meet with people and really launch into the world when it opened back up but instead they chose to nurse their grievances in isolation. That was actually a gift of time to prepare and they failed at that extraordinarily spectacularly.
If you've read Tom Bower's book, you will see that is a pattern with Meghan, even in college. A world class education and she couldn't be bothered to dig any deeper than superficial learning of theater. She specifically rejected any schooling to deepen her craft of acting. PH is exactly the same, he was raised in a bubble so he wouldn't know how to strategize his way out of a paper bag, but you would expect more from someone who had the education and the proximity to self-mades.
You know what they say about luck? It's when preparation meets opportunity and they fail at the preparation part over and over, so that they miss the opportunity completely. They are the architects of their own poor timing (even Covid).
Meghan should have stood up for Chandauka. She's an African woman in a leadership position - ultra vulnerable. Meghan should have called her, buried the hatchet, and protected her. But nope. And now her and H are in the soup.
A lot of the bullying allegations seem to center around women. For as much as Meghan parrots feminist talking points, she appears to be very competitive with actual women. Additionally, we all saw the photo of Wimbledon stadium disaster, it's not hard at all to imagine that diva behavior happening in other venues.
Yup, Way too much smoke for there not to be fire. Meghan does not play nice with other women. I believe Harry himself admitted in Spare to making the female staff cry but of course he spun it in a way to make him and Meghan the victims and that the staff was not doing their jobs properly.
There is so much evidence that Meghan is a bully and that she is ultra-competitive with any woman in her orbit. And Harry is right there with her, defending her every step of the way.
At a certain point you become responsible for your "bad luck." They've consistently made terrible decisions which have contributed to the bad luck. Covid threw the world for a loop but many people used that time to launch successful ventures. They're always in too much of a rush (so much so that they can't even file the necessary paperwork for trademarks, etc) because they're always responding to external events and trying to overshadow the royal family. If they would take a moment to really think about things maybe they wouldn't mess up so much. Who said Meghan had to relaunch immediately, exactly when Prince Philip was dying and the Queen was declining? She had to grab the spotlight immediately, when it would have been much smarter to sit back and wait.
I am interested to see if Dr. Sophie has the receipts for all of her claims. She is an Oxford educated lawyer so would think she would be smart enough to be ready to provide proof. I thought she came across as credible and articulate in the interview she did on Sky News. Agree that this is disastrous for both Harry and Meghan for separate reasons. Meghan already has so much negative press from the Netflix show and upcoming podcast( which sounds incredibly boring). I fear this will have devastating consequences for Harry. He already has very little on his plate. Now he is just left with Invictus. However, I do wonder how much time has spent with Sentable since leaving the BRF. Dr Sophie said in her interview that he hadn’t been to Lesotho in 6 years until she asked him to go on Oct 2024.
Very petty of me but I think it's good Harry got a taste of the same medicine he and Meghan dished out to Kate and Charles. What Meghan and Harry alleged about them was just so cruel and damaging. But I agree definitely a case of clashed egos. Very interested to see how this all plays out. According to Rebecca English this isn't the first time there have been a disagreement about Meghan's involvement in the charity. She spoke on Palace confidential about Audi pulling out of sponsoring a charity polo match after Meghan's involvement behind the scenes.
It’s not petty.
It’s called natural consequences and can create growth opportunities if folks have any level of self awareness.
Not sure what is going on with Sentebale and Dr. Chandauka, but I have a question - don't stone me, please: Do y'all recall when Catherine made an unannounced appearance at the Angelsey Ring of Fire ultra-marathon right after George was born? She was welcomed and all was well (plus no faus pax during the event). Excluding for a moment the camera crew and weird trophy exchange, why is Meghan's unannounced appearance considered inappropriate? Because it was a more formal event? Not really defending her, just asking.
Now, once we do include the Netflix camera crews, wouldn't Sentebale want the camera crews? Perhaps the Netflix people realized Meghan had nothing for filming and wanted to cover the polo event. I dunno.
Once we add in the weird trophy exchange, we are back to odd-duck Meghan behavior.
To answer your first question, I think everyone knows that as soon as Meghan is here, she has to be taken care of, she needs champagne etc... well she behaves like a diva, making a lot of fuss and she wants to have everybody at her beck and call which is not always possible!
As for your second question Dr Chandauka explained on Skynews that when a venue is booked for a charitable event it can't suddenly become a commercial event which it necessarily becomes if the Netflix crews are on the premices. It seemed to me that it was first and foremost the legal aspect that was at stake.
I might be wrong because I am no lawyer!
Thank you, Sylvie. I appreciate the response. :)
Makes a lot of sense re: Netflix. You can't just show up with a film crew and expect people to want to be filmed, even if they were just passing through. Netflix is not a news crew. I imagine releases would need signing, explanations given, etc.
In addition, Dr. Chandauka explained that signed releases would have been acquired in advance from all attendees if Netflix was to be there. Makes sense.
I recall that event in Anglesey, and I think Kate's appearance was a surprise to those in attendance, not to the organizers. Also, her participation was limited to this: "Kate joined the crowd in counting down from 10, before William rung a large bell and the runners took off in a pack." It doesn't sound as if she expected any special, um, "duchess" treatment and didn't insert herself into the handing out of awards.
Thank you, Joanna. Yup, definitely Catherine was only there to express her appreciation. I still love that outing.
When one is a charity, there is a huge concern of mixing commercial business (Harry & Meghan personal documentary) with a charity. It can become a legal and tax nightmare and can create really poor look for the Charity -with funders asking if their money is actually going to fund Harry & Meghan's personal business. That kind of cross over is a strict no-no if you are doing things appropriately and above board.
I think perhaps the event organizers knew that Catherine was going to go, but it was a surprise to the press.
I think there was a lot going on with that event in Miami. It was meant to be a charity fundraiser and they got the field below market value. Once Harry and Meghan brought in Netflix, it became commercial and the field owners said no. You need to pay me if Netflix is coming in...and on and on. So they had to find a location Sentebale could afford...then Meghan wasn't going and then she shows up with Serena Williams.
Meghan will not be happy about all of this. The last thing she wants is to have the world reminded of the toxic workplace & bullying allegations as she prepares to launch her products this week and her podcast next week. The most interesting thing about all of this to me is, Harry asking to have the chair of his charity issue a statement defending his wife. As she showed up unannounced with Serena and after his actions with Netflix made them rearrange the entire event. Seems they only ever think of themselves.
The first thing I thought of when I heard about the Sentebale kerfuffle the other day was that this is yet another page from Harry's "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets" book, which we first learned about before the wedding with tiaragate and Angela Kelly. I was also reminded of that bit in "Courtiers" about how Harry was constantly at war with the media and BP and "every infraction was a big deal", and that his obsessions, frustrations, distrust of others -- as great as they had alway been -- got even worse after he met Meghan.
I have to say that of all the things Harry is or isn’t, I don’t think he’s a misogynist or racist. I mean, has he said things in jest/“jokes” in the past as a youth/young adult that are tasteless and crude etc? Yep. But I don’t see him currently as those adjectives. I was lurking around on X this morning and a pretty big article/write up came across my feed. I would say while I originally might have been skeptical on the reasons why Harry and the other fellow stepped down, after reading direct quotes from Miss Chandauka, I would say she has some issues in this as well. So, I find the entire thing to be very muddied and I suppose time will tell.
I think the big losers are the children the charity helped.
Excellent analysis. Just spot on.
I’ve noticed it’s been very quiet on the social media accounts that are sympathetic to Harry and Meghan. They absolutely don’t know what to do with this story.
I’ve noticed this too! Absolutely nothing from Amanda or Elizabeth and close to nothing from Meredith. I believe they worry about upsetting their base which is now solely comprised of Sussex Fans. How do you handle a highly successful woman accusing Harry & Sentebale of misogynoir when you’ve spent years bashing the entirety of the royal family and press for the same thing? I guess you say absolutely nothing but lose all credibility.
Elizabeth eagerly fires off angry IG posts when there’s any whiff of controversy about the royal family. One time she furiously posted about Prince William’s supposed racist comment about the war in Ukraine from March of 2022, then had to apologize when it turned out to be untrue. But even after saying sorry she said Prince William deserved the criticism anyway. She did the exact same thing when it was falsely reported that Queen Camilla invited Jeremy Corbyn to a luncheon. It was untrue but Elizabeth said she deserved the criticism anyway. She’s absolutely insufferable. Sad because I used to enjoy So Many Thoughts.
Ugh, Elizabeth is the worst! Now she's trying to copy Meghan's wardrobe from the show. Unfollowed her a long time ago and looks like many others did too.
Who are Elizabeth and Meredith? Assuming Amanda is Amanda Matta?
Yes Matta. And Elizabeth Holmes and Meredith Constant. Holmes has her Instagram So Many Thoughts stories and has been around for a long time, but her content has seriously gone downhill the past five years. She’s just a Sussex appreciation account now, when she’s not scolding Kate, William, and Charles. Meredith has only recently been in the royal commentary world. She claims to be an expert in media literacy. Her royal commentary is heavily shaded by her politics, much like Elizabeth. Where they both end up is that Meghan and Harry are almost always right, and Harry’s family and the press are almost always wrong.
That validates my thoughts. I once loved Elizabeth Holmes fashion commentary. But she got sooo political and soooo pro Meghan that I stopped following her.
Oh Holmes! Crying in her car because Meghan announced she wasn’t going to the coronation? 😆
Yes, the very one. She is unhinged.
Agree. Matta does no research at all. On the abdication crisis she said there was no constitutional crisis because it was mainly the Church that was upset with the King--uh, the King was the head of the Church and defying its rules on divorce; the PM had consulted Commonwealth countries and the three English political parties which all found marrying Wallis Simpson was unacceptable. That's a constitutional crisis. She also criticized the Princess of Wales for not getting right back to work "like any other working mother" after announcing the end of her treatment, which is just mean. And she thought the end of treatment and being in remission were the same thing, which is stunningly ignorant. She exemplifies the TikTok issue of people just talking and spreading misinformation. Holmes researches a bit more, but seems mainly to be about selling merchandise now.
Perhaps this charity has simply run its course it started as a small personal initiative between Harry and his friend no doubt his then staff had the day to day running and now he has moved on and so has the environment in which the charity operates it’s not unusual for people to blame each other in these situations but I think they would be better thinking of a constructive way to save any remains good elements maybe asking a larger non profit to absorb it
Thank you for this Jane! I would hope in these modern times Ms. chanduauka has recipes ready to go….
"I don’t think I would say it generated 'huge publicity.' I don’t think newspapers or tv broadcasters were focusing on it. But underscores how much Meghan follows and obsesses over social media that this incident escalated" I suspect that Harry and Meghan, who were using the footage for his Netflix Polo show, were not happy with how the presentation appeared on film, with all the moving and ducking etc, though this would be down to Meghan's unexpected (ha!) appearance on stage.
I agree that this is sad for Prince Harry but it also reveals how little he understands the projects he supports. Just taking a quick look at the Sentebale website, what jumps out to me is that there is little local representation on the board. Of the trustees who resigned with Prince Harry three are British friends (Damian Lewis, Mark Dyer, Tim Boucher). Two women who stayed are medical doctors, one based at Johns Hopkins and one based in London. I see that there is a celebrity fund-raising component and subject-area expertise in HIV. But more representation from Africans would help the Board evaluate local proposals and it's better PR. Ultimately, I don't think Meghan caused this problem, but Meghan getting grabby with the trophy and the limelight underscored the marginalization of the Africans they are supposed to help. It's tone-deaf, even if there are big personality clashes underpinning this fracture of the Board.
That's interesting that three of the trustees who resigned are Harry's British friends. As I remember it, and was reminded of it, this was Harry's pet project, founded in 2006. This was the middle of Harry's Africa years, wasn't it? When Harry was dating Chelsy Davy, when he was rumored to be considering settling in Africa somewhere. In fact, even after he married Meghan, it was rumored (again, always rumors) that he wanted to move to Africa.
The actual history of Sentebale began through Harry's meeting Prince Seeiso in Lesotho during Harry's gap year in 2004, when he was 19. I think that Harry is genuinely a caring person and, hearing of the AIDS issues among young people in Lesotho he thought of partnering with Seeiso for a charity. Just as he did with Invictus ten years later. It's interesting to read the Wikipedia history of Sentebale, which highlights (with footnotes) that there were issues with Sentebale right from the first with administrators being paid big bucks (compared to what was being raised and what needed to be disseminated.) The whole story is complicated and has been simmering for years. Harry referred to the "CBE scandal" in his book I believe (disclaimer: haven't read the book but it was referred to in reviews.) It's sad that it has to explode like this so publicly and that, as you write Lori, personality clashes have to take the foreground rather than an analysis of what it would take to get Sentebale back to its original mission of helping the young people of Lesotho.
There was coverage in the more respected British papers including the Times an the Guardian. I think that it is interesting that Dr. Chanduka refers to a larger team providing the publicity that represents Harry and Megan and that the charity was not informed of any of the statements that came out ahead of time. Even those on the ground in Africa. I don't think anyone expected her to fight back.
Canadian royals writer Patricia Treble’s Substack, Write Royalty, wrote about Sentebale's finances over the weekend, based on her study of their annual financial accounts since its founding in 2006, using public info from the UK Companies House website. She wrote that that Sentebale's annual income has been "effectively flat for the last decade, maxxing out at £4.55 million in 2022 before falling to £3.4 million in 2023". In 2022, the org got £1 million from Harry from his "Spare" royalties, £1.55 million from the big annual polo match, and £805,000 from institutional donors. Also, for 2022, Treble reports that Sentebale spent £821,000 on fundraising (which is almost as much as it got from Harry via his royalties); in 2023, it spent only £386,000 on fundraising. Interesting to see the difference from one year to the next. I’m a free subscriber so I couldn’t read the rest.
The 2022 amount from institutional donors (£805,000) is pitifully small — and the total in 2022 especially dependent on Harry, between the polo and book royalties — and given these annual amounts, the charity does not seem sustainable. It does seem odd that even from 2006 to 2020 (Megxit) when Harry was a full working royal with all the support that entails, there wasn’t more work done to broaden and increase fundraising for Sentebale. I seem to recall Audi being involved, and there was a rumor/story before Megxit about Harry and Meghan trying to pressure Audi to increase their annual donation to $1 million, but I can’t recall any of the details. Maybe someone else here does?
Hi Joanna - Charlotte Griffiths had some interesting insights at Palace Confidential (about the 36 min mark on their YouTube channel.
She said Meghan didn't think The Royal Foundation (at the time) asked enough from Sponsors. The biggest sponsor was Audi and they had a rosie relationship with the foundation. Enter Meghan, she wanted to formalize the relationship and throwing around big numbers between 1-2 million and Audi backed off and hasn't been seen since. This is a HUGE deal to Sentebale since their fundraising seems totally reliant on Harry's polo charity games and he hasn't been playing much. He won't play in the UK where presumably it's cheaper, but went to Japan, which seems like there wouldn't be much left after expenses....anyway...thought the Audi insight was interesting. After all, didn't Meghan say, we should be "monetizing" charity work and while in Australia 2018 said, "I should be getting paid for this."
I think this is the kind of story where everyone involved will end up looking bad. That viral clip at the podium after the polo match is interesting. You can see that there is space in the middle for Dr Sophie. She seems to be the last person they are waiting for to take the photo. She's there at the podium because she's the chairwoman of Sentebele, not because anyone actually knows her name. Meghan directs her to her 'place' and I don't see anything particularly wrong with that. The only thing wrong is that she is made to duck under the trophy. Is that rude? Maybe. You can see that the photo doesn't work with Dr Sophie standing next to PH. Once she gets into place, everything looks good for a photo.
As always, you need to bring receipts for these kinds of allegations. It seems the Sussexes are difficult to work for, but is that news to Dr Sophie? She's an extremely high caliber professional. Was a project like Sentebale so important for her to have on her resume? There are a number of charities she could start herself in Africa or become a part of. Why work for an 'entitled' English prince? Why join a charity that she thinks isn't being run well?
A decent reason to rejoin a charity where you have served on the board in the past could be to right the ship of a worthwhile cause.
This is not about rude people at photo ops who think they should be at the center of every photo. That's just the petty junior high antics stuff that gets pulled all the time.
It certainly isn't that Dr. Chandauka needed this on the resume. She has so much more going on re: education, experience, expertise than Harry or Meghan could ever dream of owning. He has his DNA and she married it and that's it.
Sentable themselves announced re Dr. Chandauka appointment:
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Sophie Chandauka MBE as the new Chair of the Board. Previously, she served on the Sentebale Board from 2009-2015.
Sophie is a Zimbabwe-born executive with experience leading strategy, legal and operations functions for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Virgin Money, Baker McKenzie and Meta. She is Chair and Co-founder of Nandi Life Sciences, a US based biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics for rare cancers and auto-immune diseases. Sophie is also Chair and Executive Founder of the Black British Business Awards. In 2021, she was awarded an MBE for extraordinary contributions to diversity in business. Sophie grew up in southern Africa, and, through various prestigious scholarships, was educated in Canada, the U.S. and U.K.
.....
P.S. I don't get the hostility here towards Dr. Chandauka. RE: "she is on stage Not because anyone actually knows her name"... Is it really more important that anyone knows her name or to actually be the respected chair of the organization?? Or more like the disrespected chair of the organization. Or maybe her African name is just too hard to know? Or maybe she doesn't seek/need adulation? So, she's some no name and it's not worth bothering about her in the photo (?) never mind she is the chair of the organization. Meghan is way more central (important?) because of her notoriety? To me that sounds just like people presume Meghan thinks.
Maybe I didn’t explain myself well. I’m aware of Dr Sophie Chandauka’s accomplishments and I think she would have been able to sniff out poor governance at Sentebale very quickly. I’m wondering why she’s decided to take a public stance now when she’s been serving the charity for a few years.
Yes, maybe in retrospect she should have given this role a pass. Maybe she wishes she had. It could be true that she believed in the charity so much that she took it on anyway and was discreet about turning it around. The turning around ruffled a lot of feathers. She's leading the charity, not working for Harry and certainly not working for Meghan. But you wouldn't know that from the entitled demand H made of her to smooth over Meghan's rep. He doesn't respect boundaries or understand her role or his role here and his subsequent unannounced quitting was so unprofessional. He acted like an entitled jerk. Not hard to believe at all. Much of old charity models is just dripping with patronizing baggage. Dr. Chandauka is not Meghan's clean up crew. Forging a modern, respectful, responsive to local needs and interests and more local control of the organization is bound to be challenging, especially to those who are used to having their way.
In rewatching the trophy clip, I was struck by how identical Meghan and Ms. Chandauka’s outfits were, so Meghan already wasn’t going to stand out as she expected to. Meghan was clearly pissed off about something. She had that rictus grin on her face that promises trouble for someone once the cameras are off.
Dr. Chandauka's interview on Sky News (it's on Youtube) in the company of one of Sentebale's trustees is devastating. I believe her. I've worked many years in Development Departments of big non-profits and her assessments are spot on. Put aside how smart, articulate, and serene she is in the interview, she knows her stuff. Also, she said that she and Harry had a good relationship until they didn't. For one: when she took over, some Board members had held their positions for more than a decade. That's unheard of; not only is this not a "best practice", but few if any non-profits or charities can flourish when Board members are so entrenched -- unless it's a family foundation or charity. Most Boards have terms for their members for a reason. It was hard for her to do anything new, because the board was stale and devoted to Harry. She also recounted how Harry just sat someone on the Board without telling her. She's the Executive Director! That's absolutely insane. How is she supposed to run the organization if a founder is making decisions and she's the last to know and has no input? She's a South African woman and knows better than Harry how this organization can serve South Africans and fullfil Sentebele's mission. I encourage everyone to see her interview. It's also juicy! She also said that Harry had not visited Africa for five years before 2018? 2019? -- I can't remember, before she asked him to do so. She says that Senetebele has been around for almost 20 years and thrived with his minor input and will continue to go on and thrive without him. She did not sound vindictive at all. She did say that she did not even know Harry had resigned until she saw it in the press, and by that time the "Sussex PR machine," as she calls it, was unleashed to discredit her. She says it started when Harry wanted her to make a statement that Meghan wasn't mean. She refused, because she felt it would be a bad precedent for Sentebele to become part of the Sussex PR machine. That's, according to her, when she and Harry fell out. The PR machine seems to have worked a bit, since people are questioning her motives. Other than that, and even mentioning that, she did not sound vindictive at all. She sounds like a a top notch non-profit ED, who was undermined as a woman -- because she didn't do what Harry wanted her to do to guard Meghan's reputation. I encourage anyone interested in this palace intrigue to watch her interview on SKY News. She's a professional. Meghan and Harry are going to have a hard time wiggling out of this one. She also reiterated that she has documentation to back up all that she says. And Dr. Chandauka is a well respected lawyer and leader in South Africa. Good luck escaping THESE bullying rumors, Haz and Megs.
Excellent points. I would add that she is a respected business woman in Finance in NY and London, too.
She’s Nigerian actually. I am not 100 in her camp and tend to agree with Jane that this is a clash of a lot of egos. I think things aren’t going well and she has to figure out who to blame and H and M are entitled and have made their share of mistakes so ….
When Dr Sophie told the story about having to find another venue for the polo since H wanted Netflix to come in I just rolled my eyes. And that explains why Meghan showed up - no Netflix no Meghan!!!
Nigerian. Thank you for clarifying that. I'm not sure I have enough information to assign ego to Dr. Sophie's behavior. Has she sought the spotlight before this blowup? Has she demanded the spotlight as ED of the organization? And her main focus during the SKY interview was the state of Sentebale. She focused on herself only when questions were posed to her. Also, the inciting incident was Harry's public resignation and comments. Who would stay quiet if their reputation was being sullied by accusations of mismanagement? I'm guessing no one thought she would fight back. And because she is standing up for herself, negative characteristics are being assigned to her behavior. This happens to women all the time. She seems incredibly self assured and confident, which is impressive.
I found it interesting that the case at the charity commission was made almost a month ago. Not a word to the media until she was forced to defend herself.