An in depth pal of Prince Harry’s has stated in a brand new interview that a few of Sentebale chairwoman Sophie Chandauka’s hostility to the prince is because of her jealously of his spouse Meghan Markle, saying that the Zimbabwe-born legal professional in all probability felt overshadowed onstage by the globally well-known Duchess of Sussex at a charity fundraiser final April.
“It feels like (Chandauka) had her nose put out of joint because she was not the most important woman of color on the stage,” the pal, Alex Rayner, stated in an interview with the Every day Mail.
“There is an undercurrent of stink here because Meghan showed up and it is coming from (Chandauka),” Rayer additionally stated.
Rayner’s remarks about Chandauka’s supposed jealously, or his ideas that she’s exploiting “racial undertones” within the dispute, have already stirred outrage on social media. To Harry’s critics, his Eton pal has illustrated the embattled chairwoman’s claims that she was the goal of misogynoir — prejudice towards Black ladies — inside Harry’s African-based HIV and AIDS charity earlier than Harry dramatically resigned final week.
However in chatting with the Every day Mail, with Harry’s permission, Rayner acknowledged one in every of Chandauka’s factors — that King Charles III’s son isn’t as globally beloved as he as soon as was, not after he and Meghan left royal duties, moved to California and started criticizing his royal family. Chandauka extra scathingly argued that the “toxicity” of Harry and Meghan’s Sussex model had harm fundraising.
“Yes, he has gone from being the great hope of the British Royal Family to being seen as a pariah, but he still attracts a lot of exposure,” stated Rayner, who has helped with Sentebale occasions previously.
Harry has not publicly commented on Chandauka’s fees. However Rayner, who had been in touch with Harry over the weekend, stated his pal is “shocked” by the bullying and harassment allegations leveled towards him, and “grief-stricken” over the best way the saga has unfolded.
“H is very happy for me to speak for him about how he feels about this awful situation,” Rayner stated, referring to Harry by his first preliminary, much like how Meghan refers to her husband in her Netflix life-style present.
“He is just beyond heartbroken and flabbergasted that the charity he founded as a teenager has been taken hostage by the chair,” added Rayner. “It feels tantamount to a hostile takeover.”
The general public consumption of this bitter saga started final week when Harry introduced that he was leaving the group that he helped co-found in 2006 to assist youngsters in Lesotho, a landlocked African nation, affected by poverty, HIV and AIDS. Harry co-founded the group, with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, on behalf of his mom, the late Princess Diana.
It’s been reported that Harry and different trustees misplaced “trust and confidence” in Chandauka’s management however the legal professional and businesswoman has hit again with a variety of veiled and direct accusations towards the California-based Duke of Sussex. Chandauka, who turned chair of the board of trustees in 2023, has offered herself as a “whistleblower” who has tried to show “abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir” inside the “vanity” group that he co-founded.
In a blistering interview on British TV over the weekend, Chandauka stated the “Sussex (PR) machine” was unleashed on her partly as a result of she refused to do fame injury management on behalf of Meghan. Chandauka additionally advised Sky TV host Trevor Phillips that she has “documentation” to bolster her claims that Harry has been attempting to “eject” her from Sentebale “for months” by means of “bullying and harassment.”
The hostility between Chandauka and Harry has been brewing not less than since April, when she helped set up a Sentebele charity polo match in Florida that Harry participated in. Chandauka described how each Harry and his spouse created disruptions earlier than and through the match. First, she stated, the preliminary location of the polo match needed to be moved as a result of Harry insisted on bringing a digital camera crew that was filming a documentary for Netflix, with which the couple has a manufacturing deal.
Then, on the day of the match, Meghan instantly introduced that she would attend and convey a well-known pal, Serena Williams, Chandauka stated.
Then, when it got here time to award the profitable group, Meghan was introduced up on stage. However her awkward encounter with Chandauka was caught on video and sparked adverse headlines. Meghan appeared to direct Chandauka to maneuver apart in order that she may stand subsequent to her husband and be middle stage. That required Chandauka to duck below the trophy as she moved to face subsequent to Meghan.
Folks on social media interpreted Meghan’s request as “rude” and “disrespectful” to a different girl.
“The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me,” Chandauka stated on Sky TV.
The media consideration round Meghan’s therapy of her prompted Harry to ask Chandauka to challenge an announcement in assist of the duchess. Chandauka refused, saying she didn’t need Sentebale for use “as an extension of of the Sussex PR machine.”
Rayner hit again at Chandauka for letting that sort of adverse “narrative” take maintain about Meghan. “They could have issued a statement and put a stop to it but they did not. Why?” he requested. “Again, the whole thing smells. It feels planned, and I suspect that the whole thing could only have come from the chair herself.”
Rayner additionally disputed the concept Meghan successfully gatecrashed the occasion. “It’s Harry’s charity polo match and Meghan is his wife, of course she should have expected her there,” he stated. As for Harry’s model hurting fundraising, or a Netflix crew being unwelcome on the polo match, Rayner stated: “You cannot say that Harry’s brand is of no consequence to the charity, it simply does not stack up. … And with a TV crew in tow – what sponsor would not want the global exposure?”
Rayner continued: Let’s not get blinded by ‘let’s bash Harry’ and by the thought that there have been racial undertones in play. … The state of affairs is that she has didn’t administrate her function. She was requested to step down and she or he refused and took over the charity.”
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