The Hostile Takeover of Sentebale

0:01Prince Harry is devastated by a hostile takeover as Meghan and Harry sign a new Netflix deal and the celebrity who spoke out to defend Meghan. I'm Jack Royston, Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent, and this is Newsweek's Royal Report. Prince Harry is devastated after a charity watchdog cemented what he views as a hostile takeover in an organisation that he set up in Princess Diana's memory. Now, this is a complicated story. There's a load of background and there's a lot of public commentary from all of the people involved. So buckle up, because it is going to take a little while to explain all of this.

0:40But in a nutshell, Harry and the Princess of Lesotho created this charity, Senta Ballet, almost 20 years ago to honour the legacies of their mothers. So in Harry's case, obviously, that is Princess Diana. Her death, you know, absolutely came through him like a wrecking ball when he was 12 years old and left him with a lifetime of trauma. So Senta Barley was kind of seen at the time as the proof that Harry was going to make something of his life. Now, Harry and Princeso both resigned from Senta Barley along with several trustees in March. This was after a massive falling out with the chair of the charity, Dr.

1:16Sophie Chandelka. And it got very, very public and very, very messy. And the whole thing was being probed by an organisation called the Charity Commission, which is the watchdog, the relevant regulator of charities in England and Wales, and it launched something called a regulatory compliance case. So they have different kind of tiers of action that they can take. Harry was hoping that the commission was going to force Sophie Chandler out of the charity, and then that would pave the way for him and the other trustees to return. And then he could come back to Centre Barley, and it would be just like business as usual.

1:51But the regulator wrapped up this case last week and it took no such action. Instead, it gave both sides a wrap on the knuckles for the kind of the really damaging public nature of the dispute between them. And it gave Centre Barley an action plan that it's going to need to follow. And they're going to need to do that in order to fix government problems, governance problems rather, that the Charity Commission identified. But Sophie Chandalka remains the chair and the trustees that she appointed are still in post. So Harry therefore remains frozen out of his own charity. Now, it wasn't all bad news for him because he was effectively cleared of allegations of bullying and the commission also found no evidence of misogyny or misogynoir, which Chendelka had said she was a victim of.

2:35They did, though, acknowledge what they described as the strong perception of ill treatment felt by a number of parties to dispute and the impact this may have had on them personally. So not completely dismissive, but also they didn't kind of uphold or reinforce Chandelka's public statements about what she thought was going wrong at the time and how she thought she was mistreated. So that's basically the bare bones of this story. But one major thing to consider before we get into the epic war of words between the two sides and how they all reacted and all of that kind of stuff is the question of what happens next.

3:12And in a way, I think this is actually the most, in some ways, it's now become the most important part of it. So two major things to look out for. One, Harry has said he still wants to help children in southern Africa and to work with Prince Esso again. And Newsweek was told there is actually an outside chance and Prince Esso is investigating the possibility that they could find a way to wrench the Lesotho arm of Centipale away from Sophie Chandelka if it is a separate legal entity. Now, the charity has told Newsweek that that's not going to be possible, and it may well be that they're right, but that is one avenue that has actively been explored.

3:48Another option is creating a new charity, but we've been told it's far too early to say whether that's the path that they will go down. The Mail on Sunday actually ran a story about this and said there was a new charity in the offing, and Harry's team shot it down. I have a sneaking suspicion. I kind of have a bit of a concept of why, which I'll get into later. But for now, let's just assume for the moment that it's just one of many options, which is what they're saying. The other thing to look out for is whether Santa Barley can still fundraise without the princes on board. Now, obviously, it's one thing to be in control of the charity.

4:23But if the charity's got no money, then it can't carry out its function. And so this is going to be one big question mark is can she survive now that she doesn't have Prince Harry and Prince Sesso raising money for the organisation? and also after this incredibly public and reputationally damaging falling out between all of the different people involved. Now, in its regulatory action plan, the Charity Commission actually did say that it needs to set out the importance of the trustees, that's the current trustees, securing sufficient funding to enable the charity to deliver for its beneficiaries.

5:01So, you know, the Charity Commission is itself clearly aware of the risk here. that the funding for Centro Barlet collapses. And so it's quite interesting to think about what happens if that does. I mean, obviously, it will be devastating for the people that Centro Barlet helps, and it'll be devastating, you know, in some ways, probably for both sides. It'll be devastating for Sophie Chendalka, because it means that she'll have been kind of gifted this, you know, this opportunity by the charity commission to, you know, pursue the vision that she saw for Centro Barlet, in spite of the fact that the founders of the organisation, didn't want her to be the one to take it forward.

5:40But also, that might actually be why Harry is not rushing off to set up a new charity. If she can't continue to fund it, if she can't get funding, if she can't drum up donors for this organisation and Centa Barley kind of fails, it could be that it then becomes a kind of phoenix rising from the ashes and Harry and Prince Saso could at some point maybe rescue it if she's forced out because of funding problems. So that, I think, is probably the reason why nobody is jumping down the barrel of this whole thing about setting up a new charity right now. The proof ultimately is in the pudding and time will tell.

6:22And that is always the way of royal reporting. It's always what happens in the long term that matters more than what happens in the short term. And so we will see, you know, we'll see whether the funding is there. And it might be that it is, you know, she goes out and finds new donors, and they don't care about the fact that Harry's been kicked out the door, then she might well be fine, in which case she might continue as the chair of Centre Barlay for many years to come. But that is one thing that you cannot just gloss over, you know, you need the money. And if you don't have the money, than the whole thing, the pack of cards falls apart, basically.

6:54So, you know, more on all of these things in due course. But first of all, let's just talk a little bit about what all the various different sides to this are actually saying. So Charity Commission is probably the most important one to start with because it was their case. So, you know, they criticised both sides for the public nature of the dispute, but they said they found no evidence of widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity. So that is a bit of a blow to Sophie Chandalka because that is what she told Sky News had happened. She said that Harry had exposed her to harassment and bullying at scale.

7:34That was a reference to the moment that Harry decided to go public, basically. So the route to the whole thing blowing up in the public domain is a little complicated because Sophie Chandalka had actually sued Senta Barley at the High Court in London. So no doubt Harry will feel that he went public with a statement to the media in response to the lawsuit. But also technically speaking, he was the one who brought it into the actual public domain properly for the first time by releasing a statement to the media. So that public statement that he filed back in March, she described as harassment and bullying at scale.

8:08And earlier she had said, Beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir, and the cover-up that ensued. Now, obviously, the kind of allegations of poor management or mismanagement go both ways. She accuses them, they accuse her. But let's just get back to what the Charity Commission actually said. And so they acknowledged the strong perception of ill treatment felt by a number of the parties to dispute and the impacts this may have had on them personally.

8:42But they also said there was no evidence of overreach by either the chair, Sophie Chandelka, or the Duke of Sussex's patron. So, you know, there were some technical points that they raised. So, you know, lack of clarity about the delegation of roles and stuff like that. That's very important to the people who are directly involved, but perhaps less important to us as the public just kind of watching what's happening. but you know there were issues that they picked up on but then David Holdsworth the chief executive of the Charity Commission said passion for a cause is the bedrock of volunteering and charity delivering positive impact for millions of people here at home and abroad every day however in the rare cases when things go wrong it is often because that very passion has become a weakness rather than a strength.

9:24Centabale's problems played out in the public eye enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity's reputation, risk overshadowing its many achievements and jeopardizing the charity's ability to deliver for the very beneficiaries it was created to serve. So that, in a nutshell, is what the Charity Commission said. Now, Prince Harry's initial statement was obviously strongly worded. He felt very strongly at the time. Kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters. That's why trade pros trust fiber cement hardy backer board to keep tile firmly in place resist cracking and help block moisture chosen in over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms hardy backer board what the best build on shop now at participating home depot lowes and floor and decor stores for more information visit jameshardy.com slash hardy backer and he started to basically take a little bit of a swipe at the Charity Commission, which is an interesting avenue to go down.

10:25He says,

10:51of the current chair's actions will not be borne by her, but by the children who rely on Centipale's support. So this is a bit where, you know, sometimes Harry's messaging is slightly unclear. And so, and I think this is one of those examples. It's not quite clear from exactly what he said, why he's taking a swipe at the Charity Commission. But essentially, my understanding is that he wanted them to remove her as the chair. And that would have paved the way for the founders and the original trustees to come back to the organisation and continue running it. And obviously Harry thinks they should have done that because he thinks that he has evidence or that there is evidence of Sophie Chendalka mismanaging the organisation.

11:32So that's what's really behind that line. He says, Centre Barley has been a deeply personal and transformative mission. This is from his statement, sorry, a statement on his behalf by his spokesperson, which is why it talks about him in the third person. But it says, The Centre by has been a deeply personal and transformative mission for Prince Harry, established to serve some of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana. For 19 years, its dedicated staff and steadfast supporters have provided vital care to over 100 ,000 young people across Southern Africa, including young people living with HIV and AIDS and those facing mental health challenges.

12:07So, yeah, I mean, it ends by saying, you know, the Duke of Sussex and Prince Esau will now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana. It's, you know, that public statement from a spokesperson was also, you know, it was a lot of the messaging there was even more emphatically repeated to Newsweek, you know, by a source. And clearly, Harry feels incredibly strongly about this and is heartbroken by the fact he's lost his charity, which he kind of views as his life's work. So, you know, someone I spoke to said Prince Cesar and Prince Harry are absolutely devastated by what Sophie has effectively done, which is a hostile takeover of this charity.

12:50It's a charity that Cesar and Harry set up 19 years ago, and certainly in Harry's adult lifetime, it's been his life's work. Now, I mentioned earlier this plan to potentially see if there's a way for Prince Cesar to wrest control of the organisation back off Sophie Chandouka. So I was told there are lots of complexities to the governance structures of Centobale, which means that we're not entirely clear as to, for example, whether or not Centobale in Lesotho is a separate organisation and charity to Centobale in the UK. And it's something that Princeso is exploring. The source added, if Princeso can find a way to extricate Centobale in Lesotho from Sophie Chandelke, he would do it in a heartbeat.

13:32If that were the case, then I think there is a world in which Prince Harry would love to work with Prince Seiso again in effectively continuing the good work the pair have done for nearly the last two decades. So like I said, Centipale told us that it's not going to be possible for them to do that, which does raise the question, what does Harry do next? Does he just sit back? I think what he's doing now is probably going to be just sit back and watch and see what happens, see whether Centipale can find new sources of funding, whether it's going to be a going concern in the foreseeable future or whether the funding will collapse and Centipale will, you know, disintegrate and whether Sophie Chandalka will effectively have to, I don't know what would happen.

14:13I mean, would she go down with the ship or would she get forced out under those circumstances? I guess only time would tell if it does indeed go that way. I mean, the other possibility is that she does just find other donors than the ones who are allies of Harry. A lot of the funding for Sintipale was raised through Harry's efforts at Polo. He would throw these charity Polo fundraising events where all of these rich Polo community would give money to the charity. So it got a lot of money that way. So those sources of funding absolutely 100 % will have fallen away. So it's just whether she can find other donors.

14:44It's not impossible she will, but we will see. Time will tell. Now, we also got a statement from the former trustees of Centipale who said, 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 Centipale's chair. We accept that 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.

15:18So a kind of double whammy from the former trustee. So on the one hand, they too are taking a swipe at the charity commission. A source on the Sussex side also told Newsweek that it showed itself to be a kind of toothless tiger by not taking action against Sophie Chandelka. So it's a kind of dual two-pronged attack. They're kind of saying the charity commission did a bad job, but they're also saying Sophie Jandalka is not up to the job of being chair of the organisation. But it was also said to me, you know, that if there is a chair who is not up to the job, it's virtually impossible to get rid of them, which I think is why Harry resigned.

15:58But I want to unpack that a little bit more later. Right. So there's another like total side mission from this whole story, as if we weren't already dealing with enough. It's already incredibly complicated, but this little side mission popped up, which was that the Mail on Sunday did this story, which was kind of innocent enough in its way. But they ran this piece saying that Harry was going to set up a new charity so that he could continue working to help the children of Southern Africa, of Lesotho and Botswana, outside of Sintabale. And it earned a bit of a clap back from Harry's team who said no decision has been made.

16:35They said that quite emphatically. and that it's wrong to characterize this as a path that has been chosen. It is one of a number of options that are available, not any kind of foregone conclusion. So that is mainly interesting to me as an example of like, why go public with that kind of dispute? I mean, on the one hand, it goes back to that thing that, you know, it's just not probably not right. It's not correct that a decision has been taken. So, you know, obviously Harry is completely within his rights to say so. And to say, you know, that's not accurate, don't follow it up to the rest of the media.

17:13And I think actually the Mail ran another story giving the Sussex line. So in some ways, as disputes go between Harry and the Mail, it's actually one of probably the more amicable public disputes between those two. But he, you know, Harry hates the Mail. He sued him and Meghan more times than any other newspaper. You know, between them, they've racked up four lawsuits against the Mail and Mail on Sunday. predominantly the mail on Sunday actually but it's also just interesting that it was only last week that Harry sent a legal letter to the Daily Mail over the serialisation of Andrew Loney's book now more on Andrew Loney's book next week I hope to have him on the show we'll see if that materialises but I do think he's coming on but effectively it's a sign that things are flaring up again with Harry and it's really interesting because it's happening at a time when relations are actually I think improving between Harry and a lot of news organisations, actually including some of those news organisations that Harry has been at war with in the past.

18:14But the mail continue, even in this kind of new dawn of the Sussexes reaching out a little bit more to the media. The mail is still basically at loggerheads with Harry. And obviously Harry does still have one more lawsuit. His last lawsuit that's still up and running, that's still waiting to be resolved, is against the mayor. So it's just more evidence that probably, I guess, he's not going to want to settle that out of court if he's still upset and angry with them. But only time will tell. We'll see where that one goes, and it will be months before it comes to trial at the High Court in London.

18:51So I will keep an eye on it. But going back to the kind of main thrust of this story. Kitchen and bathroom professionals know what goes behind the tile matters. That's why trade pros trust fiber cement Hardy Backerboard to keep tile firmly in place, resist cracking, and help block moisture. Chosen in over 40 million kitchens and bathrooms, Hardy Backerboard, what the best build on. Shop now at participating Home Depot, Lowe's, and Floor & Decor stores. For more information, visit jameshardy.com slash hardybacker. one thing that just really interests me is i still don't believe that we have enough in the public domain currently to fully understand what really happened here one of the questions living over it is just like i suppose the first question is was henry right to resign from center bali in the first place and so i guess it goes back to that point about what would he have done if he'd stayed on like it kind of feels a little bit like why did you resign?

19:52Like you've lost this charity. Surely it was worth sticking around a bit longer and seeing if you could just thrash out some kind of an agreement. But then, you know, there's another part of me which is like, well, I guess things went very, very toxic at the palace and maybe they, you know, they all stuck around too long there. And maybe actually, in some ways, maybe Harry did it better this time where he saw the writing on the wall that everything had gone toxic and just bailed. And then, yeah, I mean, once you're out, you're out. You don't really have a, once you're out of the organization, you don't have any foot in the door to try to kind of get the chair to go and you to stay.

20:30So I'm sure that, you know, numerous times he has absolutely kicked himself that he walked away from it. I would be amazed if he didn't, but I think ultimately he will still come out in the position that it was his only course of action because it had got very, very toxic and staying in a toxic situation is not necessarily the right thing to do. it's kind of why I actually never opposed Harry and Meghan quitting the royal family like I you know I don't necessarily think that was the wrong thing to do I think that throwing hand grenades at the royals again and again and again and particularly the way that it was done may well have been the wrong thing to do because you know ultimately they lost the public sport because it seemed like they were just hammering the same nail over and over again you know and that wasn't helpful but actually like walking away from a toxic situation is not an unhealthy thing to do it's actually a healthy thing to do.

21:19So it is kind of, I can see why it's heartbreaking for Harry. It kind of is heartbreaking, to be honest, but maybe actually he did it better this time by just getting out early. And yeah, you know, that's how we wound up frozen out. But it's also really weird to me how suddenly it blew up. Like if you, if you look back, even like a few months, last year, Harry visited and he visited Lesotho. He met Sophie Chendauka. they looked in their photos like they were getting on great. There's even a picture of Harry with his arm around her. They're posing for pictures together. There's absolutely no hint in any of that photography that there's any problem between them.

21:57I think the last time I talked about all this on this podcast, I mentioned that there was a press release in which Harry appeared to kind of emphatically support Sophie's vision for redesigning the charity because basically Sophie Jindalka's whole thing was that she felt the charity should be based in Southern Africa, alongside the people it helps. She felt that dealing with HIV and AIDS was perhaps yesterday's problem and that it needed to deal with other issues, particularly she mentioned climate resilience. Well, you know, as recently as last autumn, when Harry visited Lesotho, he visited a climate resilience project.

22:35So it really felt like, you know, she had a vision that was different to his and he was joining her, like walking down that path. And then all of a sudden it absolutely went nuclear. And that change happened in months. And I still don't really feel like I understand how it changed so hard so fast, especially because we do have an account of people quitting and leaving and resigning longer ago than that. And, you know, you look at the statement from the trustees and they talk about her, you know, wanting to change things as early as February 2024. so I guess Harry maybe wanted to believe or something but yeah I mean I think I still have a bunch of questions on this which I don't really feel like I know the answers to one final point though is how all of this will be perceived in the long term and honestly I think there will be actually probably quite a bit of sympathy for Harry mainly because everyone even like the toughest souls do for the most part ultimately respect Harry's grief and the pain that he experienced when Diana died Even the hardcore trolls who hate Harry and Meghan and jump on everything they do, do generally have some respect for his grief for the loss of his mother.

23:50And this charity was set up in her memory. So, you know, you just step back from it all. It's like sometimes you just have to bring common sense to a situation and you step back from it all. Like, why shouldn't a guy who has the money, why does he not have the right to run a charity in memory of his dead mother? as long as he's doing good and he's raising the money and that money is being spent wisely. These things do matter. It's not like anyone can do anything. Charity is kind of a solemn promise that must not be abused or exploited or violated. But needless to say, he does have the right to set up a charity in his mother's memory and to run that charity.

24:31So I do think that there will be a lot of sympathy for Harry on that point. and you know even in Britain where he's obviously very unpopular I think people like have huge respect for the fact he lost his mother and you know they actually you know for the most part people did like Zentibale like that was never the issue that they had with Harry even people who have a massive massive issue with them with him sorry and with Meghan never had a problem with Zentibale or his work helping kids in Africa and to whatever extent Sophie Chandelka might think that focusing on HIV and AIDS is not the most currently pressing thing when climate change is going to cause mayhem.

25:13Trump has obviously made huge cuts to USAID. There may well be absolutely right that there are other fish they could be frying, but I don't think anybody in Britain actually has a concrete sense of the idea that Santa Bali was in any way not doing good or wasting its money. I think people in Britain believed in the charity and in that respect I think they will have a huge amount of sympathy for Harry and the fact that he has lost this organisation that meant so, so, so much to him. But on that note, I'm going to take a quick break. But before I do, remember to rate and review The Royal Report on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you get your favourite shows.

25:53And when I'm back, Meghan and Harry's Netflix deal has been renewed after all.

26:03Hello, and welcome back to the show. Megan and Harry have renewed their Netflix deal, but with a twist, which is that they are now on something called a first look deal. If you are a regular listener, this will be no surprise to you because this is exactly what I discussed previously. And in fact, it is exactly what the UK brand and culture expert Nick Eade told me would likely happen. So you can read that past story on Newsweek, but I'll go through some of his comments here anyway. Now, a first look deal means in essence that Netflix gets first refusal on any projects Harry and Meghan want to pitch, but if they don't like anything, the Sussexes can take it elsewhere.