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Weepixie · 06/08/2025 05:31

I read it earlier and don’t understand what conclusion they’ve come to. It all seemed very wishy washy and quite the word salad.

Im looking forward to it being explained as the thread grows.

Mylovelygreendress · 06/08/2025 06:33

I agree @Weepixie. Apparently the CC can’t investigate individual accusations of bullying .
At first glance - will read more carefully later- it seems to be about governance which they have concluded was poor .

YanTanTetheraPetheraBumfitt · 06/08/2025 06:37

Oh i couldn’t understand the outcome either, glad im not the only one. So no evidence of bullying found. I can’t remember was Harry accusing someone of bullying him or was he accused of doing the bullying?

I thought it was the latter, in which case you’d have thought if he’s cleared he might want to go back? But guess the relationship has broken down beyond repair?

im also puzzled by the headlines of him stepping down….i thought he did this ages ago?

CoffeeCantata · 06/08/2025 06:49

YanTanTetheraPetheraBumfitt · 06/08/2025 06:37

Oh i couldn’t understand the outcome either, glad im not the only one. So no evidence of bullying found. I can’t remember was Harry accusing someone of bullying him or was he accused of doing the bullying?

I thought it was the latter, in which case you’d have thought if he’s cleared he might want to go back? But guess the relationship has broken down beyond repair?

im also puzzled by the headlines of him stepping down….i thought he did this ages ago?

I get the impression from BBC News that it’s not that no bullying took place, just that the enquiry “isn’t going to go there” and is restricted to very clear-cut objectively verifiable issues.

Weepixie · 06/08/2025 06:57

@CoffeeCantata yes, that but I did understand - the Commission are not permitted to, or are there to investigate bullying.

CorrectionCentre · 06/08/2025 06:57

It appears to be vague and wishy washy. It seems a cop out to say in effect "you should have been able to sort this out yourselves" rather than investigate what happened /who acted in such a way as to prevent resolution.
It identifies "gaps in governance and polices" which will now be addressed. These gaps are not the responsibility of SC . She inherited the governance structure of the original trustees and patrons.
It's also interesting to note that the CC criticise all parties for conducting the disagreement in public, and yet a spokesperson for PH makes the following statement "Despite all that, their report falls troublingly short in many regards, primarily the fact that the consequences of the current chair’s actions will not be borne by her – but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support." He just couldn't stop himself.

Holdingonfornow · 06/08/2025 07:18

And by all accounts Harry went to the press first? SC did her interviews to defend her reputation after this, and after the Sussex squad started on her?

ThePoshUns · 06/08/2025 07:40

I just heard on Times Radio that Harry has accused the Charity Commission of ‘ sitting in the fence’. Maybe he’d rather they concluded he’s an arrogant prick like I have? Always has to have the last bloody word. Just a few words accepting the findings and reflecting on them would be the sensible thing to do. He really needs to listen to a decent PR person.

Thedom · 06/08/2025 07:45

I too thought Harry had quit. Is this a bit like him quitting the RF, but he didn't really!

Has the full report been released or just the summary for the media? SC has said she has all the evidence to prove what she is saying. The charity commission agreed with her complaint about poor governance, she is the one who took that complaint to the charity commission. They also seem to confirm the patron operated outside of the rules of how a patron should operate, which seems to be par for the course if Invictus is anything to go by.

Hopefully, we get to see the evidence of bullying which SC said she presented to the commission, and would be interested to see Harry's threatening message about her refusing to back up Duchess Difficult.

EmpressSisi · 06/08/2025 07:52

So from what I can gather, the Charity Commission found no evidence of systemic racism, misogyny, bullying, or harassment at an individual level.

However, it also acknowledged that several individuals felt personally mistreated, and the Commission didn’t dismiss those experiences. Essentially, they’re saying: it wasn’t institutional, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen on an individual level.

It criticised both Harry and Dr Sophie Chandauka for allowing their internal dispute to escalate publicly, which in turn damaged the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in the sector more broadly. Harry’s very public resignation as patron, and the ensuing media fallout, were seen as particularly harmful.

Ultimately, the Commission issued a Regulatory Action Plan to address governance failures — including poor internal communication and unclear roles — which had allowed the conflict to spiral. While Harry’s team slammed the report as falling “troublingly short,” the Commission made it clear that everyone involved contributed to the breakdown.

CoffeeCantata · 06/08/2025 07:55

So he’s cross they didn’t place the blame firmly on other people (ie Dr Chandauka).

Typical!

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:03

I suspect the PR war is going to run and run over this issue as each side got enough from the Charity Commission’s statement (or, conversely, neither side got everything they were looking for) and so the unpleasant jockeying for the moral high ground will continue.

The actual summary put out by the Charity Commisison is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-concludes-case-into-sentebale

The report is quite clear about the Commission’s role “to determine whether the charity’s current and former trustees, including its chair, have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law. The Commission’s role is not to adjudicate or mediate internal disputes in charities”.

Against that backdrop they found that Sentabale had a confusing, convoluted and poorly governed process of delegation of powers to the chair/Executive chair role with a lack of clearly defined delegation. The trustees did not have appropriate processes to investigate internal complaints, and a lack of clear processes and policies generally. It did not think the public statements and criticisms were in the best interests of the charity.

These failings are held to amount to mismanagement in the administration of the charity. (So Dr Chandauka is vindicated in her decision to refer the charity to the Commission over governance concerns).

The Commission did not find evidence of widespread bullying, harassment or misogynoir. (So Harry is vindicated by this. Although it should be noted this is not the role of the Charity Commisison - it’s not a conduct regulator - and they also recognised that there was a strong perception of ill-treatment by a number of parties to the dispute, which may have had a personal impact on them. I think this suggests the Commisison recognised feelings were very high on both sides).

The Commission found that there wasn’t over-reach by Harry as patron/chair but is critical of the above governance failings around his roles (Harry is vindicated here, but not wholly).

Dr Chandauka remains in role with a regulatory action plan to improve the charity’s policies and procedures (Dr Chandauka will feel indicated by this, and the plan sounds like a fairly good outcome).

The comments of the CEO of the Commisison are interesting. He said “Passion for a cause is the bedrock of volunteering and charity…however, in the rare cases when things go wrong, it is often because that very passion has become a weakness rather than a strength”. That sounds to me like it’s aimed at Harry? It is a good lesson though, which hopefully he will take on board

Regulator concludes case into Sentebale

The Charity Commission has concluded its compliance case into Sentebale, a charity which works with children and young people in Southern Africa.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-concludes-case-into-sentebale

Profhilodisaster · 06/08/2025 08:06
  • it was not satisfied that public statements made to the media and public criticism made in television interviews, were conducted in a way that served the charity's best interests
This seems to be a criticism of both Harry and SC
elessar · 06/08/2025 08:08

I would very much like to see the report and I hope it gets issued.

my reading of the situation is that the findings are mostly that the governance of the charity by the trustees was poor, there was lack of clarity about people’s roles, including that of SC as chair, and of the patrons (Harry!) and they’ve basically all been given a scolding for letting it implode in the public eye - which let’s remember, is Harry’s responsibility because he went to the press first, and SC was forced into defending her side of the story.

I think the bullying and racism bit is because the CC haven’t specifically included that in their scope of work.

Harry as usual has had a total strop because the results weren’t what he wanted - ie. For the CC to defer to his great royalness and find that SC was completely in the wrong.

I do find it quite funny in a way that he’s accusing them of sitting on the fence, when I suspect they may have even been slightly reserved in their report to avoid criticising Harry himself too strongly. I can’t imagine Harry would be pleased with an outcome that had the CC firmly placing all the blame at his door!

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:12

Holdingonfornow · 06/08/2025 07:18

And by all accounts Harry went to the press first? SC did her interviews to defend her reputation after this, and after the Sussex squad started on her?

Yes - after the internal disputes were not resolved Dr Chandauka referred the case to the Charity Commisison in February 2025.

Rather than wait for the competent regulator to consider the issues raised , the charity’s board of trustees tried to force Dr Chandauka out, which she took legal action to prevent (which has proved to be a wrong call on the part of the trustees given the Commisison has held the charity was being mismanaged) and when she refused Harry and Prince Seeiso resigned and made a public statement on 26 March 2025 announcing the fact that the relationship between the charity and Dr Chandauka had broken down beyond repair - which obviously created a massive media storm.

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:13

Profhilodisaster · 06/08/2025 08:06

  • it was not satisfied that public statements made to the media and public criticism made in television interviews, were conducted in a way that served the charity's best interests
This seems to be a criticism of both Harry and SC

Oh, it is, but to be fair to Dr Chandauka, she didn’t start the public mudslinging.

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:20

In an almost “you couldn’t make it up” moment, the former trustees have issued a statement blaming the incoming Chair, Dr Chandauka, for the governance failings that she referred to the Charity Commission, and which were then upheld.

"We are disheartened by the way in which the Charity Commission has chosen to ignore key concerns and irrefutable evidence raised with them regarding the leadership and oversight of Sentebale's Chair. We accept there is always room to strengthen governance of an organisation, which is why we welcomed a governance review by the Chair initiated in February 2024, and that should have only taken a matter of months — we unfortunately never saw a report or any outcomes enacted, more than two years into her tenure. We remain gravely concerned for the future of the charity and the wellbeing of the communities we served for 19 years, following the mission set out by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso in honour of their mothers"

So clearly neither Harry not his trustees who tried to force Dr Chandauka outIt have listened at all to the Commission about charities being damaged by in-fighting….

Thedom · 06/08/2025 08:23

SC did throw a few firecrackers into the public spat though. then Harry sent his buddy off to the DM to claim SC was just jealous of Meghan Markle 😀in typical misogynistic manner.

Thedom · 06/08/2025 08:24

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:20

In an almost “you couldn’t make it up” moment, the former trustees have issued a statement blaming the incoming Chair, Dr Chandauka, for the governance failings that she referred to the Charity Commission, and which were then upheld.

"We are disheartened by the way in which the Charity Commission has chosen to ignore key concerns and irrefutable evidence raised with them regarding the leadership and oversight of Sentebale's Chair. We accept there is always room to strengthen governance of an organisation, which is why we welcomed a governance review by the Chair initiated in February 2024, and that should have only taken a matter of months — we unfortunately never saw a report or any outcomes enacted, more than two years into her tenure. We remain gravely concerned for the future of the charity and the wellbeing of the communities we served for 19 years, following the mission set out by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso in honour of their mothers"

So clearly neither Harry not his trustees who tried to force Dr Chandauka outIt have listened at all to the Commission about charities being damaged by in-fighting….

Hadn't all those trustees stayed long after what a normal tenure would be, contrary to good governance !

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:26

I think so, yes Thedom. There’s a fair bit of “face saving” going on here.

CoffeeCantata · 06/08/2025 08:33

Thedom · 06/08/2025 08:23

SC did throw a few firecrackers into the public spat though. then Harry sent his buddy off to the DM to claim SC was just jealous of Meghan Markle 😀in typical misogynistic manner.

And doesn’t that remind you of another accusation? Harry believed that the root of their problems with the RF was that Meghan was so much better at the job than the others and they(particularly Catherine) were all jealous.

I don’t think dozy men like Harry notice this kind of thing themselves - it sounds like an idea put into his head by Meghan who imagines everyone is jealous of her.

smilesy · 06/08/2025 08:42

Serenster · 06/08/2025 08:20

In an almost “you couldn’t make it up” moment, the former trustees have issued a statement blaming the incoming Chair, Dr Chandauka, for the governance failings that she referred to the Charity Commission, and which were then upheld.

"We are disheartened by the way in which the Charity Commission has chosen to ignore key concerns and irrefutable evidence raised with them regarding the leadership and oversight of Sentebale's Chair. We accept there is always room to strengthen governance of an organisation, which is why we welcomed a governance review by the Chair initiated in February 2024, and that should have only taken a matter of months — we unfortunately never saw a report or any outcomes enacted, more than two years into her tenure. We remain gravely concerned for the future of the charity and the wellbeing of the communities we served for 19 years, following the mission set out by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso in honour of their mothers"

So clearly neither Harry not his trustees who tried to force Dr Chandauka outIt have listened at all to the Commission about charities being damaged by in-fighting….

Yes. My summary of the report would be something like “ You’ve all been a bunch of prats. Learn from this and move on”. But it seems there is a lot of “fingers in ears and saying la la la” in terms of taking this on board

To remove random autocorrect apostrophe 🙄

Holdingonfornow · 06/08/2025 08:47

can we say that the report backs up some of Sophie’s examples such as trustee (Harry?) turning up to a meeting, proposing a pal is elected to the board, seconded by another pal and the chair has no say? That sort of structure/governance issue?

on the flip side it doesn’t sound like Harry’s claims of financial mismanagement on behalf of SC were upheld, and it acknowledges the challenges to the charity finances by Covid and possible megxit?

So on balance, apart from defending herself, SC comes out of it pretty well I would say. I wonder if she will keep a dignified silence on the details of bullying/racist texts/emails or whether she will do a Harry and publish away.