Meghan Markle caused ‘disruption’ after turning up to a charity event at short notice and bringing her ‘very famous friend’ Serena Williams, the chairman of Harry’s charity has claimed.
In a bombshell new interview, Sentebale chairman Dr Sophie Chandauka made several damaging claims against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, calling their brand ‘toxic’ and accusing Harry of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’ – a claim that is denied.
Dr Chandauka claims that, prior to a charity Polo event in 2024, Meghan confirmed she would not be attending – before showing up with the tennis legend.
Allegedly, Meghan then caused chaos on stage as she appeared to ask Dr Chandauka not to pose next to Harry as he celebrated the Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Florida.
The charity chairman, who was stood on the Duke’s right, was asked twice by Meghan to move to her left side away from Harry, as he kept his arm around his wife.
Others therefore had to shuffle around them to find a place, with Dr Chandauka awkwardly having to duck under the trophy to get into the position Meghan was asking her to stand in.
Speaking to Sky News‘ Trevor Phillips, Dr Chandauka recalled the events of the chaotic event, telling him: ‘We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time [Meghan was coming], but we didn’t.
‘And so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage.
Meghan Markle speaks with Serena Williams at the 2024 Royal Salute Polo Challenge for Sentebale on April 12, 2024, in Wellington, Florida
In a bombshell new interview, Sentebale chairman Dr Sophie Chandauka has made several damaging claims against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, calling their brand ‘toxic’
Dr Chandauka claims that, before the charity Polo event in 2024, Meghan confirmed she would not be attending – before showing up with the famous former tennis player
Meghan has been accused of causing disruption by turning up at short notice with her ‘very famous friend’ Serena Williams
‘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.
‘Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the Duchess, and I said I wouldn’t.
‘Not because I didn’t care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.’
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said Meghan’s unexpected appearance at the event ’caused confusion’, describing the incident between the Duchess and Dr Chavunduka onstage as ‘awkward’.
‘Meghan was not expected at a polo match in 2024 and this caused confusion which was symptomatic of the chaos which Dr Chavunduka claims the charity had descended into,’ he told MailOnline.
‘She refused to issue a statement in support of Meghan, there had been an awkward incident between them.’
Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘The ferocious feud that has split Sentebale, which Prince Harry co-founded in memory of his beloved mother, Princess Diana, will be a bitter blow to him, as he now has no link with a charity that he has been involved with since 2006, when he co-founded it.’
The expert also said the accusations of ‘bullying against’ Harry – claims the Duke’s representatives have strongly denied – echo previous accusations of bullying against his wife Meghan – also strongly denied.
Nacho Figueras, Dr Sophie Chandauka, Chair of Sentebale, Prince Harry and Richard Miller, CEO of Sentebale attend the Royal Salute Polo Challenge benefitting Sentebale at Grand Champions Polo Club on April 12, 2024
Dr Chandauka (third from right) claimed the Sussexes’ brand had become ‘toxic’ (pictured at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge held in Florida in April last year to raise funds for Sentebale)
‘Harry has been accused of ‘bullying and harassment’. There are echoes here of the allegations against Meghan which appeared in the Times before the infamous interview they gave on Oprah, which she strongly denied,’ Mr Fitzwilliams said.
‘However they have recently surfaced in The Hollywood Reporter and Vanity Fair. They will surely adversely affect the Sussexes image.’
Last week, Prince Harry announced that he and several trustees had quit Sentebale, the charity he set up with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, amid a boardroom battle within the organisation.
Dr Chandauka, who has been chairwoman of Sentebale since 2023, accused the duke of being ‘involved’ in a ‘cover-up’ of an investigation about bullying, harassment and misogyny at the organisation and said the ‘toxicity’ of his ‘brand’ had impacted the charity.
A source close to the former trustees of the Sentebale charity described Dr Chandauka’s claims that she was bullied and harassed, briefed against by Prince Harry, or that the Sussex machine was ‘unleashed on her’ as ‘completely baseless’.
Dr Chandauka also claimed that before the event, an opportunity for Sentebale to do a charity Polo Challenge in Miami was ruined when Harry insisted on bringing his Netflix camera crew along.
‘About a month before the event was about to take place, Prince Harry called the team and said, ‘I’m doing a Netflix show, and I would love to bring a camera crew so that I can include some footage in this show,” she said.
‘And so the team called me and told me, ‘Oh, Prince Harry’s made this request, so we’re doing the things’.
Meghan and Harry pictured at the ‘disruptive’ charity polo game in Florida last April
But Dr Chandauka (second from left) pictured with Nacho Figueras (left), Prince Harry (second from right) and Sentebale’s chief executive Richard Miller (right) at the polo event in Florida last April
Dr Chandauka (left), the chair of Prince Harry’s beleaguered charity Sentebale, said she had been asked to defend Meghan Markle against negative publicity
‘I said, you can’t be doing the things without seeking consent from the property owners, the sponsors, all the guests. Nobody signed up to being on a Netflix show.’
She added: ‘We come up with draft agreements and of course, the venue owner says this is now a commercial undertaking.
‘So here are my terms. We couldn’t afford it. So now we lost the venue.’
In an astonishing message to Harry the chairman also said: ‘The team is resolved that Sentebale will live on, with or without you.’
Harry’s two-month trip to the kingdom of Lesotho during his gap year aged 19 inspired him to establish the charity two years later in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
The young duke came face-to-face with Aids orphans, met other traumatised young people and visited herd boys living a harsh existence looking after cattle in remote mountain areas.
MailOnline has contacted the Sussexes for comment.