LONDON: Britain’s charity regulator said it had found no evidence of bullying at a charity set up by Prince Harry, but criticized all parties for allowing a dispute to become public.
Harry, the younger son of King Charles, co-founded the charity Sentebale in 2006 to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana.
But he quit as a patron in March following a dispute with the chair of the board, Sophie Chandauka. She accused Harry and Sentebale’s trustees of bullying, misogyny and racism.
Harry had called the falling-out “devastating” and welcomed the commission’s inquiry which he said at the time would “unveil the truth.”
He had set up Sentebale, which means “forget-me-not” in the local language of Lesotho, in honor of his mother Princess Diana, who died in a Paris crash in 1997.
In its report published on Wednesday, the Charity Commission said it found no evidence of “widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny,” but it said there had been weak governance.
There was a lack of clarity about policies and roles and no proper process to deal with internal complaints, it added, and as such had issued Sentebale with a Regulatory Action Plan to address its concerns.
“Sentebale’s problems played out in the public eye, enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity’s reputation,” David Holdsworth, CEO of the Charity Commission, said.
Harry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while the charity said that it welcomed the regulator’s findings.
“We are emerging not just grateful to have survived, but stronger: more focused, better governed, boldly ambitious and with our dignity intact,” Sentebale’s chair Chandauka said.
Harry, who lives in California with Meghan and their two children, stopped working as a member of the British royal family in 2020.
UK regulator says no evidence of bullying at Prince Harry charity
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UK regulator says no evidence of bullying at Prince Harry charity
GCC, India relaunch negotiations on free trade deal
- India’s trade with GCC was valued at more than $178 billion in 2024-25 fiscal year
- FTA will benefit infrastructure, petrochemicals sectors, Indian minister says
NEW DELHI: The Gulf Cooperation Council and India relaunched negotiations for a free trade agreement by signing the terms of reference for the talks on Thursday, about two decades after a first attempt stalled.
India already has a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with two GCC members, Oman and the UAE, signed last year and in 2022, respectively.
Its trade negotiations with the GCC — members of which also include Saudi Arabia — stalled following a framework agreement signed in 2004 and two rounds of talks held in 2006 and 2008.
“It is most appropriate that we now enter into a much stronger and robust trading arrangement which will enable greater free flow of goods, services, bring predictability and stability to policy, help encourage greater degree of investments and take our bilateral relations between the six-nations GCC group and India to greater heights,” India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
GCC-India bilateral trade was worth more than $178 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year, accounting for more than 15 percent of India’s global trade. The region is also home to about 10 million Indians who live and work in the Gulf.
The relaunched negotiations with Gulf countries came as Delhi accelerated discussions to finalize several trade agreements in recent months.
Earlier this week, India reached a trade deal with the US after months of friction, following recent conclusions of similar negotiations with New Zealand and the EU.
“As, I believe, the GCC and India come closer together, we will become a force multiplied for global good,” Goyal said.
Food processing, infrastructure, petrochemicals and information and communications technology are sectors that will benefit from India-GCC FTA, he added.
The free trade negotiations are taking place at a time when globalization was “under attack,” said GCC’s chief negotiator, Dr. Raja Al-Marzouqi.
“It’s a message, a signal for the whole globe and it’s important for us at this time to try and be more cooperative,” he told reporters in New Delhi, adding that the first round of talks was likely to take place at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh.
“When we agree, we will contribute as long as possible to the stability of the global economy.”
