Milan, March 30 (LaPresse) – Dr. Sophie Chandauka, president of the Sentebale charity founded by Prince Harry, has accused him of "widespread harassment and bullying" after he and several others left the organization earlier this week. Chandauka told Trevor Phillips on Sky News: "The only reason I’m here is because at one point on Tuesday, Prince Harry authorized the release of a damaging news story to the outside world without informing me, my national directors, or my executive director. This is an example of widespread harassment and bullying." On Tuesday, Prince Harry resigned as patron of the charity, releasing a joint statement with the co-founder of the NGO, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, stating that they were forced to step down "in support and solidarity with" the board of trustees, who had resigned due to a dispute with Chandauka. The dispute reportedly arose from the president's decision to focus fundraising efforts in Africa. Sky News reported that one of its sources, "close to the former trustees of the Sentebale charity," said that Chandauka's accusation of being bullied by Prince Harry is completely unfounded.
In a statement released earlier this week, Chandauka had said: "There are people in this world who behave as if they are above the law, mistreat others, and then play the victim card, using the same press they despise to damage people who have the courage to challenge their conduct." "Behind all the stories and fiction about victims that have been fed to the press, there is the story of a woman who dared to expose issues of mismanagement, weak executive leadership, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir, and the cover-up that followed," added the doctor. Sentebale was founded in 2006 by Harry after he spent two months in Lesotho during his gap year in 2004. Dr. Chandauka, who was part of Sentebale's board before becoming president, accused Prince Harry of wanting to "force a failure and then step in to rescue it." She claimed that the tension between her and Prince Harry became apparent a year ago and recalled that his team had asked her to defend his wife Meghan from negative publicity. "I said no, we will not create a precedent that would turn us into an extension of the Sussex PR machine," she recounted.
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