Just a few short months ago, The Duke of Sussex visited southern Africa to participate in an event at Sentebale’s Mamohato Children’s Centre in Maseru, Lesotho—a nonprofit for people in Lesotho and Botswana living in poverty and those suffering from HIV and Aids. The royal set up the organization—whose name means forget-me-not, a nod to his late mother Princess Diana’s favorite flower—along with the country’s Prince Seeiso back in 2006.
But now Prince Harry has revealed that both he and his co-founder have stepped down as patrons of Sentebale after trustees quit over a dispute with the new chair, The Times reports.
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Per the news outlet, the royal and Prince Seeiso released a joint statement saying: “Nearly 20 years ago, we founded Sentebale in honour of our mothers. Sentebale means ‘forget-me-not’ in Sesotho, the local language of Lesotho, and it’s what we’ve always promised for the young people we’ve served through this charity.
“Today is no different. With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organisation until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees who have had to do the same. 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.”
While the details of the decision are still unclear, per the news outlet, there has been fighting within the organization due to the choice of the chair of the board of trustees and “a decision to focus fundraising largely in Africa.” Per the report, recent internal tumult has led the organization to be the subject of a Charity Commission investigation. Judging from the statement, the unanimous resignation of the co-founders and trustees appears to be the only path forward—and one that protects the charity’s efforts in the long run, but most importantly, the communities it serves.
Prince Harry is involved in multiple charitable endeavors including the Invictus Games and Archewell, which he launched stateside with Meghan Markle after the pair left their roles as senior members of the royal family in 2020. That said, Sentebale has always been especially significant and meaningful to the prince, not only for the work, but for its ties to his late mother Princess Diana. Per the Times, the decision to vacate was “not a choice willingly made.”
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