Prince Harry's former charity Sentebale has scrapped its annual charity fundraising polo match. In the past, the Duke of Sussex, 41, would enlist his friends in the field, including star player Nacho Figueras, to play in a bid to raise funds for the organisation, which he set up in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lethoso. Now, Sentebale, which Harry parted ways with following a bullying and racism dispute in March, is dropping the event, which was launched in 2010, as it rebrands ahead of its 20th anniversary next year.
The HIV/Aids charity, which supports children and young people in Africa, plans to cut £1 million annually and has said it wants to increase investment by widening its donor base instead of relying on individual high-profile donors. Iain Rawlinson, a member of Sentebale’s board of trustees, told The Telegraph: "These polo games, which attract great generosity from high-net-worth individuals or funds who want to support the charity, those events definitely have their place. We’re not being critical about that as a concept.
"The reason for [dropping it] is it puts quite a lot of pressure on individuals, and it can mask structural weakness in the financial model of the charity." According to Iain, Prince Harry's generous donations, which included a £1.2 million contribution using proceeds from his bombshell memoir Spare, covered up the "fault lines in the financial model which had really been producing losses since 2017."
© Getty ImagesIain added there was a "very narrow but very loyal donor base for the charity" which "masked the very high level of cost … where those costs could only be borne by the virtue of the generosity of Prince Harry."
Major changes
The charity match is just one of many changes that have been made in the organisation of late. In August, the London staff were made redundant, with the entire office closing following the turbulence. Closing the offices was also cited in the charity's cost-cutting plans. The organisation has also introduced a "code of conduct" for defining trustees' acceptable behaviour," following the ordeal earlier this year.
Why did Harry leave the charity?
Harry resigned as a patron of the charity along with his co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, and several other trustees, blaming the “almost dictatorial” style of its chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka. In a joint statement released in March, Harry and Prince Seeiso said they were resigning from their roles with "heavy hearts" and in "solidarity with the board of trustees".
© PA Images via Getty Images"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. Adding that 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".
