Meet Sophie Chandauka, who’s at the centre of Prince Harry’s ‘charity meltdown’: she accused others at Sentebale of ‘bullying’, had an awkward encounter with Meghan Markle, and once worked for Meta

Mar 29 , 2025

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, has worked alongside Sophie Chandauka for years – now things have turned sour. Photos: Getty Images, Dr Sophie Chandauka MBE/LinkedIn

Prince Harry has stepped down from the charity he founded after its chair, Zimbabwean lawyer Dr Sophie Chandauka MBE, refused to leave her role and instead decided to sue

Prince Harry has stepped down from Sentebale, a charity he set up in 2006 in honour of his late mother, Princess Diana. The news comes following a row between trustees and the chair of the board, in what’s being described by The Telegraph as Harry’s “charity meltdown”.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, launched the organisation with co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho two decades ago to help people in Africa living with HIV and Aids.

Prince Harry stands beside Dr Sophie Chandauka MBE (in red) at a Sentebale reception and panel discussion at The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, last October. Photo: Getty Images

Along with Harry, Prince Seeiso and the board of trustees are also leaving their post at the charity. “Although we may no longer be patrons, we will always be its founders, and we will never forget what this charity is capable of achieving when it is in the right care,” they wrote in a joint statement, per CNN.

Sophie Chandauka has refused to step down from Prince Harry’s charity Sentebale. Photo: Indigo/Getty Images

Sentebale’s chair, Sophie Chandauka, is said to be at the centre of the debacle, after refusing to step down from her role, notes The Standard. She has since accused others at the charity of “bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir” (sexism against Black women) and was not afraid to show her apparent disdain towards King Charles’ son. “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,” she said in a statement.

Here’s what we know about Sophie Chandauka amid the news.

Dr Sophie Chandauka is from Zimbabwe

Corporate Finance Lawyer and entrepreneur Sophie Chandauka has an MBE. Photo: Dr Tinashe Chandauka/LinkedIn

Chandauka was born in Zimbabwe in 1978. Her parents were both teachers and she looks up to both of them, she told The New Statesman in 2023. “To pay for my unbelievably expensive private-school education, they improvised,” she said. “My father toiled with metalwork in his garage, creating children’s playground equipment to sell to nursery schools, and my mother wrote children’s books.”

She added that her “adult hero” is her grandmother, Eileen Charumbira. “She was a housemaid in colonial Rhodesia who worked hard to ensure that her daughters all received an excellent education,” she noted.