The Duke of Sussex has resigned from a charity he set up after a dispute between the trustees and the chair of its board.
Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, to help people in southern Africa living with HIV and Aids.
He stepped down with his co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, and the board of trustees because it relationship with chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka “broke down beyond repair” after she was asked to resign and took legal action.
Dr Chandauka said she reported the trustees to the UK Charity Commission and had “blown the whistle” about issues including abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism.
The Charity Commission said it was “aware of concerns about the governance” of Sentebale and is looking into them.
In a joint statement, the duke and Prince Seeiso said they were resigning from their roles with “heavy hearts” and in “solidarity with the board of trustees”.
“It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation,” they said.
They said the trustees “acted in the best interest of the charity” by asking Dr Chandauka to step down, but that her decision to take legal action to retain her position was “further underscoring the broken relationship”.
They added they would be sharing their concerns with the Charity Commission “as to how this came about”.