Royal author Tom Bower has savaged the Duke of Sussex’s work with Sentebale, tracking how his philanthropic work in Africa ended in him stepping down from the charity

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Prince Harry stepped back from Sentebale in 2025(Image: Getty Images for Sentebale)

Prince Harry was dealt a devastating blow last year when he stepped down from his charity Sentebale, that he founded in Lesotho and Botswana in 2006, after years of turmoil and in-fighting with senior staffers. The downfall of Harry’s involvement with the charity has been documented in an explosive new biography by royal author Tom Bower titled Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, as serialised by The Times.

The latest instalment of the book has claimed Harry’s celebrity image had started to damage the charity’s relationship with donors, and one person’s brutal comment about his wife Meghan Markle and her influencer fame.

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Prince Harry founded Sentebale alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006

Harry slapped with brutal comment

In 2024, Harry travelled to Lesotho for the first time in five years to check in with Sentebale, who had been having a difficult time raising much needed funds, with reports also emerging that staff were unhappy with their pay and working conditions, according to Bower.

His book claims that during a tense conversation with charity trustees, a marketing expert dealt out a brutal comment to Harry, who had seemed to believe that his celebrity status would help bring on more wealthy donors to Sentebale, which were very much needed to complete their mission of helping ill children.

As Bower writes: “At the same meeting, the trustees considered Harry’s brand value. ‘The more you ascend, the less oxygen you have to tell the truth,’ Jonathan Mildenhall, a marketing expert, told Harry. ‘ Spare should have been called Duty. Your image is bad,’ the prince was told. Raising money in America would be difficult because ‘you’re not special’. ‘How come no one told me?’ asked Harry, puzzled by the term ‘brand audit’.”

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Tom Bower claims Harry’s celebrity status has harmed the charity securing donors(Image: Getty Images for Sentebale)

Harry’s ‘brand is damaged’

After another tense meeting in New York, Sophie Chandauka – who has been the chair of Sentebale since 2023 – had a video call with Harry which quickly spiralled out of control, as the two were notorious for butting heads over issues with the charity, according to Bower.

Bower claimsthat Harry told Chandauka that the brand audit had ‘ruined’ both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as the charity seemed to be in freefall after the string of donation losses.

Bower writes, “He told Chandauka on a Zoom call: ‘Your brand audit has damaged me. You shouldn’t have done it.’ Harry implied that he had suffered psychological harm from the audit. Harry repeated Meghan’s alarm: Chandauka’s audit had also damaged his wife. The Zoom meeting ended on an unsettled note.”

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The author added that Sentebale did not want to be associated with Harry and Meghan’s Netflix ventures(Image: PA)

Savage Meghan comment

During a charity trip to Singapore in 2023 to promote Sentebale, a lawyer for the charity issued Harry an “unpleasant reality check”, according to Bower. Sponsors had reportedly started to feel uneasy about the Sussexes celebrity status and their jibes at the Royal Family over the years, namely during their interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, their Netflix docuseries in 2022, and Harry’s memoir Spare in 2023.

Meghan Markle was also on the way to carving out her own space in the influencer world, and while her lifestyle brand As Ever had yet to be released, it was certainly in the works. According to Bower, Sentebale “had conducted a brand audit among 50 organisations and donors,” which discovered the news that “Harry’s personal brand value had crashed.”

Bower writes: “‘People don’t want to be associated with your Netflix shows and especially not with Meghan,’ [the lawyer] reported. The survey also discovered that Meghan had little brand value in America. Across the globe, she actually damaged Harry’s remaining brand value.”