Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage allegedly altered his role in the Sentebale charity.
Cofounder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho’s brother Principal Chief Khoabane Theko claimed to The Telegraph on Wednesday, April 16, that Harry, 40, could have visited Lesotho “more often.”
“When [Sentebale] was launched, I remember his words quite vividly, because he was very strong in saying ‘my mother, [Princess Diana], this place, her passion about Africa’ and all that,” Theko claimed. “He’s a loved figure because of his openness, but his loss of interest has totally killed the spirit of the Sentebale’s survival. I haven’t seen [Harry] since he got himself married.”
Harry’s 2024 visit to Lesotho marked his first in six years. He had previously traveled there four times between 2010 and 2015. Theko, for his part, claimed he was “perturbed” to see Harry and Markle, 43, taking a trip to Africa in September 2019 without going to Lesotho.
Us Weekly reached out to Harry’s rep for comment.
Harry tied the knot with Markle in 2018, with the couple going on to welcome son Archie, 5, and daughter Lilibet, 3.
Harry and Seeiso launched the charity in 2006 to support children in Lesotho dealing with poverty and HIV/AIDS. The charity included a nod to Diana, with the name translating to “forget-me-not” — her favorite flower. (Diana died in 1997 at the age of 36.)
In March, Harry and Seeiso announced they stepped down from the charity. The move was in solidarity with several trustees, who had announced their exits amid tensions with chair of the board Dr. Sophie Chandauka.
“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,” Harry and Seeiso said in a joint statement obtained by multiple outlets.
Harry and Seeiso alleged that Chandauka sued the charity after being asked to leave her position.
“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 [U.K.] Charity Commission as to how this came about,” the statement added.
Chandauka, for her part, accused the charity of “poor governance, weak executive management [and] abuse of power” in a statement to Us.
“There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct,” Chandauka said. “Discerning readers will ask themselves: why would the Chair of the Board report her own Trustees to the Charity Commission? Why would the High Court of England and Wales accept her application to hear the matter at all if the case had no merit?”
She continued, “Well, because beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir — and the coverup that ensued.”
