Prince Harry’s Africa-based charity has made all but one of its London staff redundant as it battles a funding crisis sparked by a bitter breakdown with its former chairman.
Sentebale lost donations after a highly-publicised feud between the Duke of Sussex, 40, and Sophie Chandauka, 47.
The row resulted in accusations of racism and misogyny, the mass resignation of Sentebale’s board and a damning report by the charities watchdog.
Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to tackle HIV/AIDS and poverty in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.
But in a worrying turn of events, Sentebale has been forced to lay off four of its five London staff.
The redundancy round, which started in spring, resulted in at least two dozen staff leaving Sentebale and its affiliated programmes.
Employees dismissed include Sentebale’s global head of finance and compliance, on top of other redundancies in its African teams.
A redundancy letter from April seen by The Times reveals Sentebale telling staff it “does not have” donor funding, adding that the charity is in “retrenchment”.
“The main thing we’re all waiting for are the accounts,” a source told The Times. “There have been a lot of redundancies, there’s been people who have been let go, a lot of churn and people have left.”
Problems began earlier this year when Sentebale’s board challenged Ms Chandauka over a £400,000 bill for consultants, which they claimed had brought little return.
As the row deepened, Chandauka was asked to step down, but instead complained to the Charity Commission, alleging bullying, misogyny and racism.
In March, all of Sentebale’s trustees resigned en masse blaming Ms Chandauka’s “almost dictatorial” style, with Harry and Prince Seeiso quitting as patrons.
Last week the Charity Commission condemned both parties for allowing the spat “to play out publicly”.
A report into Sentebale said it had “severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally”.
However, the commission found no evidence of a culture of bullying, harassment or misogyny at Sentebale.
Sentebale argued its move to reduce its workforce by around 27 people was “deliberate and responsible”, given uncertainty over funding.
A spokesman for Duke of Sussex decline to comment.
