bitchy | Sophie Chandauka mothballed Sentebale’s children’s center & used up the ‘reserves’

Britain’s Charity Commission released the “findings” of their months-long inquiry into Sentebale, and Sophie Chandauka’s wild lies. The commission found zero evidence that Prince Harry (or anyone else) had bullied Chandauka or mistreated her. The commission also slammed all parties for allowing a “private” dispute to turn public. Keep in mind, the only reason why Harry and Prince Seeiso publicly resigned from the charity they founded was because Chandauka threw a tantrum, refused to leave the chairmanship, and made up a series of lies about how Harry and Seeiso were “bullying” her. Harry and Seeiso were standing with the trustees who were resigning en masse because of Chandauka’s financial impropriety, a fact which has gotten lost. This whole thing started because Sophie was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “consultants” with nothing in return. She was apparently also fighting the idea of fundraising in America.

Well, long story short, after the commission’s report was released, sources close to Harry were absolutely furious about the inadequate investigation and the lack of guidance for how to get Chandauka, a liar and a grifter, the hell out of Sentebale. Harry was also disgusted that Chandauka continues to invoke Princess Diana’s name. But the bigger picture is that Chandauka has looted a once financially robust charity, and that Sentebale no longer has any money to actually help kids in Lesotho. The Times of London had a big story about the financials. Some highlights:

Chandauka has mothballed the Sentebale children’s center: The Lesotho children’s centre run by Sentebale, the charity set up by Prince Harry in honour of his mother, was once flush with life. Until recently, more than 700 children with HIV headed to its state-of-the-art facilities for “life-changing” residential camps each year. It is alleged the site has been “effectively mothballed” amid a funding crisis that bled the charity’s reserves dry. The charity’s “flagship” holiday camps at the Mamohato Children’s Centre, in Lesotho, have ground to a halt and staff there told to work from home to cut costs. The charity has made redundancies to try to steady the ship, and in total costs have been cut by 25 per cent since March.

Sentebale’s fundraising has dried up: Dozens of reliable donors have refused to donate since the Duke of Sussex resigned as patron in March. Many of these are from a group of Meghan superfans known as the “Sussex Squad”, who pulled funding that was worth an estimated £47,000 per year. “There will be NO fundraisers, and we urge you to HALT all recurring donations until Prince Harry provides further guidance,” the online community said this week. The Sentebale Polo Cup — the charity’s best fundraiser which raises £740,000 a year — has not taken place for two years. Harry himself was a major donor, pledging £1.1 million to Sentebale from the sales of his memoir, Spare in 2021.

Sentebale is living on a shoestring: The situation is so serious that, according to a source, the charity has run through much of its £1.4 million reserves. “It’s immediately living on a shoestring,” they said. “The accounts were delayed to manage media narrative on the poor financial position.” The charity denies the claim. It said it has taken action to [shore] up its finances, and only shifted the accounting period to “align with the calendar year and what is typically ‘giving season’ in the US and UK”.

No movement at the children’s center: Principal Chief Khoabane Theko, who drives past Mamohato Children’s Centre daily, cannot remember the last time he saw any children there. “The life has totally vanished from that place, it looks closed and more like somebody’s private property than the space for children as it was intended to be,” the 67-year-old said this week. “That beautiful place is just standing empty with no one benefiting.” A Times reporter who visited last month, in the middle of the winter holidays, saw the car park full of smart 4×4 vehicles. The site was hosting a health conference, not a children’s camp. The charity says renting the space helps fund its programmes, but a guard on the gate said no camp had been held all year. This would represent a drastic change from 2022 to 2023 when 740 children were welcomed to the site.

More from Theko: Theko has traced the energy ebbing away from the charity’s hub to Prince Harry’s marriage and subsequent emigration. “I don’t understand how that lady from Zimbabwe got so powerful and Prince Seeiso and Prince Harry just walked away,” he said. “I hope they will come back and fight for this organisation that was taken away from them.”

Chandauka claims the charity is fine: Sentebale denied the charity was in a poor financial position, saying its “mission, cause and impact-focused funders”, which provide 70 per cent of its income, have remained steadfast. While some royal fans have pulled donations, “Sentebale has gained an equal, if not greater number of individual funders since March 2025”, it said.

[From The Times]

I can’t even imagine an arrogant grifter’s ego-trip this size, to bring down a charity which was doing important work for CHILDREN. Kids with HIV, no less. It’s an entirely different kind of psychopath, comparable to people who scam cancer patients or steal from orphans. There’s this sense, in the British media especially, that Harry should somehow still be blamed for what’s happening with Sentebale. Like… do these people not use logic? Harry resigned IN PROTEST of this piece of sh-t Sophie Chandauka. He saw how f–king evil she is. Blame HER. Blame her for what she’s done to Harry and Seeiso’s work after she hijacked Sentebale. Blame her for being so arrogant and self-centered that she looted a charity which was just trying to help kids.

Photos & screencaps courtesy of Cover Images and Sky News.