MEGHAN Markle “disrupted” a charity polo event by suddenly turning up with Serena Williams amid Harry’s bust-up with the Sentebale boss.
The Royal claimed she wouldn’t be attending the fundraiser before rocking up with a “very famous friend,” according to the chair of Harry’s charity.
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Dr Sophie Chandauka dropped a dramatic interview slamming the royals and labelling their brand as “toxic.”
In a series of bombshell revelations, she revealed that Meghan Markle caused disruption with her surprise arrival to the Grand Champions Polo Club with Tennis star Serena Williams on April 12 last year.
She recalled the frenzied event to Sky News, saying: “We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time but we didn’t.
“And so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage.
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“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.”
Footage shows Meghan smiling as she goes to join Harry and his teammates on stage as they pose with the Grand Championship trophy.
Moments later, Dr Chandauka can be seen walking towards Harry, but Meghan directs her to stand next to her instead.
Dr Chandauka revealed in her interview that the Duke of Sussex had urged her to publish a statement in support of Meghan.
She explained that she wouldn’t do that and that the charity was not an “extension of the Sussex’s.”
“Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the Duchess, and I said I wouldn’t,” she continued.
“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.”
Meghan’s disruptive moves were not the only stand Dr Chandauka has taken against the royals.
The founder accused the royal of “harassment and bullying at scale”, and labelled the Sussex brand “toxic” – allegations Harry’s representatives have denied.
It comes after the Duke of Sussex and Prince Seesio of Lesotho – who set up the charity in 2006 – sensationally resigned last week.
They slammed Dr Chandauka’s leadership as “untenable” and sided with trustees in a row over moving the charity’s fundraising operations to Africa.
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”.
A source close to trustees and patrons has since added that they “fully expected this publicity stunt” and “reached their collective decision with this in mind”.
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The source said they remain firm in their resignation, for the good of the charity, and “look forward to the adjudication of the truth”.
Dr Chandauka has meanwhile argued the Harry’s move to the US worsened the situation at the charity and impacted its ability to diversify its donor pool.
Timeline of events at Sentebale
2004: Prince Harry spends two months in Lesotho in a working visit during his gap year. Here he meets Aids orphans and vulnerable young people.
2006: Inspired by his visit two years prior, he setups up Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, taking the name from the Sesotho language for the phrase “forget me not”.
2010: The first polo cup is held. Harry has regularly played in the annual tournament, helping to raise more than £11 million since the tournament’s creation.
2015: Harry attends the official opening of the charity’s flagship Mamohato Children’s Centre in Lesotho.
2020: Following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back as senior royals, Harry made his first public speech to Sentebale.
2023: Sophie Chandauka is appointed to the role of chair after Johnny Hornby resigns, following his five years in the position.
2024: Harry visits Lesotho in October for the first time in six years to showcase Sentebale’s work.
2025: In March, princes Harry and Seeiso release a joint statement announcing their resignation amid a row between the trustees and Chandauka.
In response, Chandauka slams “weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, and misogynoir” at the charity.
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