More details are emerging as to what led to the internal strife that forced several board members, including founding members Princes Harry and Seeiso, to desert the charity.
According to Dr Sophie Chandauka, the reason is not as innocent as they made it out to be when they announced their resignation in a joint statement. She also clarified that donations didn’t go down due to her hiring, but went down around the time the Sussex couple quit the Royal Family.
Prince Harry Was Furious Sentebale Chief Didn’t Defend Meghan From Backlash And Wrote Her A Letter To Say So
When Princes Harry and Seeiso quit, they tried to make it out that they couldn’t cope anymore with an incompetent chair who refuses to get fired. Dr Sophie Chandauka is now telling us her side of the story, and it may not exactly be as Harry might have wanted to paint that scenario.
During her chat with Sky News’ Trevor Phillips, Dr Chandauka described how a family had generously offered the use of their grounds at a discount.
But a month before the event could take place, “Harry called the team and said, ‘I’m doing a Netflix show, and I would love to bring a camera crew so that I can include some footage’”.
She went on: “The team called me and tell me, ‘Oh, Prince Harry’s made this request, so we’re doing the things’. I said, ‘You can’t be doing the things without seeking consent from the property owners, the sponsors, all the guests.’ Nobody signed up into being on a Netflix show.”
Luckily, another venue was found in Wellington, Florida, with Meghan informing her that she would not be at the event.
However, on the D-day, Meghan waltzed in with pal Serena Williams and disrupted the event. She said, “a lot of people were unhappy because we worked on this for months.”
Dr. Sophie Chandauka Received “Unpleasant” and “Imperious” Message From Prince Harry Over Meghan Markle
The viral moment of the day, nevertheless, happened when Meghan Markle told Dr Chandauka not to stand next to Harry. This caused the chair to duck under the tropy to stand next to Meghan.
Following the incident, the Duchess received a lot of backlash online for her poor behavior. To curb this, Harry reached out to Dr Chandauka and asked her to publicly defend the Duchess.
The chair refused because “we’re not setting a precedent by which we become an extension of the Sussex PR machine.”
In response, Harry wrote her a letter, which she deemed “unpleasant” and “imperious,” asking her to explain herself.
In the coming months, relations between the chairwoman and Harry and the trustees would deteriorate to the extent that Dr Chandauka would eventually file a bullying, harassment and misogyny complaint.
She has since accused Harry of trying to interfere with the investigation.
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