Sentebale chair's decision to spend almost half a million pounds on consultancy fees 'will form part of Charity Commission investigation'

The decision by the chair of Prince Harry’s Sentebale charity to spend almost half a million pounds on consultancy fees, and who she decided to pay, will form part of a Charity Commission investigation, according to an expert in charity governance.

Sky News has seen a document from a source close to the trustees which shows a breakdown of the £427,497 spent on consultants between June 2023 and January 2025 on work related to media, website and fundraising advice.

It comes as the Charity Commission said it had opened a “regulatory compliance case” to assess concerns raised about Sentebale.

The expenses were said to have been authorised by the charity’s chair, Dr Sophie Chandauka.

A spokesperson for Sentebale, who confirmed the figure spent on consultants was “roughly accurate”, told Sky News: “Board members for many non-profits are intended to be individuals with skills relevant to the work, in addition to being well-connected persons with the ability to create opportunities, attract contacts and further resources for the benefit of the charity.

“To this effect, Dr Chandauka was specifically brought in because of her deep and broad networks in Africa, the UK and US, and commercial experience and resources that could benefit Sentebale.

“Not all introductions that were made were taken up, and those that were, were all vetted appropriately via the CEO at the time, and COO, and their terms of engagement and scope of work was also defined by the CEO and COO in consultations with country directors and the chair as necessary.

“The board met frequently where resource requirements and budgets were discussed. Indeed, in the case of the senior advisers, the board participated in focus groups and other activities early on in the transformation journey and appeared to be hugely appreciative of their expertise and contributions. It is therefore rather surprising to hear the opposite.

“Dr Chandauka volunteers in excess of 20 hours per week for Sentebale, pro bono, and her family was the third largest donor to the organisation in the last year.”

LEBEC, a strategy and financial innovation firm, was paid the most with a bill of £185,000.

Also on the list of payments is Iain Rawlinson, who was appointed as a new trustee last week and appeared on Sky News alongside Dr Chandauka.

Mr Rawlinson, who has been involved in philanthropic and charity work since the 1980s and has extensive experience in southern Africa, was paid £24,000 and is said to be owed £66,000, but Sky News understands no invoice has been submitted for that amount in the current circumstances.

Global Philanthropic, the company of which Mr Rawlinson was director and chair, received £21,000.

Sources close to the former trustees have told Sky News of their huge concerns about the thousands of pounds spent on consultancy work.

Sky News has been told that through the consultation work a financial pledge was made that should have covered the cost of all of the fees, some of that has been paid.

On the latest published figures to August 2023, Sentebale’s income was only £3.4m.

Experts say that spending between 10% and 15% on a single item would undoubtedly require express trustee approval.

When asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News on Sunday about whether she had hired expensive consultants without board approval, Dr Chandauka replied: “Well, that’s just not true. Iain is a witness.”

She said she had reported the trustees to the Charity Commission and that a UK court had issued an injunction to stop them from removing her.

Geoff Hand, a charity governance and dispute resolution expert, told Sky News: “I doubt the Charity Commission would major on the amount paid to consultants as such; they would be on the lookout for any conflicts of interest – for example, any personal connections between Sophia Chandauka and any of her chosen consultants.

“They would want to know that decisions to engage consultants were properly made by the right people [the trustees] and that the trustees took all relevant factors into consideration in making that decision.”

Last week, it emerged that the founders of Sentebale, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, had taken what they called the “heartbreaking” decision to step down in solidarity with the trustees, who had found the situation between them and Dr Chandauka “untenable”.

During her interview on Sunday, she accused Prince Harry of “harassment and bullying at scale”, but a source close to the charity’s trustees described her allegations as “categorically false” and “completely baseless”.

Sky News approached Sentebale about the work of consultants.

Specifically addressing its work with LEBEC, it told us: “In November 2023, Sentebale engaged LEBEC and its team of six consultants to provide tools and strategic guidance on how to better prepare for entry into the US marketplace and build credibility.

“Over the course of a 12-month engagement, LEBEC successfully delivered against every deliverable, including facilitating 65 key connections with potential strategic partners, connectors, advisory board members, and funders.

“This audience included high-net-worth individuals, family offices, corporations, foundations, and partner non-profits”.

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Sky News understands that Global Philanthropic was hired to do a “strategy envisioning” project in Autumn 2023 which Iain Rawlinson led given his knowledge of southern Africa. Iain was then hired from April 2024 onwards to advise Sentebale on transformation strategy and governance, his main consulting practices. The scope of work and contract was agreed with the then CEO Richard Miller.

Also on the list of payments are £41,451 for Sarah Essien, who has worked with Dr Chandauka at Morgan Stanley and biotechnology company Nandi Life Sciences.

Dawn Whyte, who worked at the Black British Business Awards – founded by Dr Chandauka – was said to be paid £26,110.

MM Media Consultant received £46,124, and an anonymous website consultant was paid £12,114.

Ms Whyte told us she did not want to comment. Ms Essien did not respond to emails, messages left or phone calls made.

There have also been allegations from both sides about who was responsible for the end of the relationship with a significant sponsor, ISPS Handa. When we approached ISPS for clarity, they said they had “no comment”.

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