Sentebale, the African charity Prince Harry had co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, has dropped polo matches from its fundraising activities following the massive scandal that involved the royal.
The organization, originally launched by the Duke of Sussex in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana, appears to be distancing itself from Harry — despite his past efforts to promote the sport through multiple events and a Netflix documentary.
Prior to Harry’s shock departure from the charity this March, polo events served as a major source of the charity’s income through donations from sponsors, donors and patrons.
In fact, the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup raised 18% of funds last year.
However, a new annual report published Friday showed that Sentebale has now cut ties with its polo roots — citing “high costs” and reasons related to the upkeep of the events.
As a result, the lack of polo donations has resulted in a massive $136,000 drop in donations, also partly due to the last-minute change in venues.
The report underscored a wider cost-cutting initiative, including plans to reduce annual spending by $1.3 million.
The charity also outlined plans to inch away from reliance on high-profile individuals and sporting events to secure long-term stability.
“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,” Iain Rawlinson, a trustee, told the Telegraph. “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,” he added.
Rawlinson highlighted the duke’s $1.2 million donation from the proceeds of his protocol-shattering memoir, “Spare,” which he said concealed “fault lines” in the charity’s finances.
“Those problems can be summarized by saying there was a very narrow but very loyal donor base for the charity,” he told the outlet. “But it also masked the very high level of cost… where those costs could only be borne by the virtue of the generosity of Prince Harry.”
He added that the organization now looks to create a “a more resilient financial model, which is not dependent on a single patron, for example.”
The report also revealed that Sentebale has already secured 70% of next year’s funding goals.
In a further bid to pinch pennies, the charity has closed its London office, which cost $873,000 annually.
“If you have got a $800,000 plus cost in the center of the organization, which is not program specific and can’t be recovered through programs, you have to go and do events,” Rawlinson added.
“You have to lean on the patron to play polo, you have to do all of that type of thing. And then that creates a certain modus operandi in the organization.”
The “Spare” author, 41, sensationally left his role as patron at the African charity back in March following an internal dispute with the charity’s chairwoman, Dr. Sophie Chandauka.
In a further twist to the drama, Sentebale called on the Charity Commission to provide clarity about its recent probe over the summer.
The organization asked the investigating body to make it clear that its report did not specifically look into accusations of racism and misogyny directed at the duke, who quit royal life in 2020.
The Invictus Games founder’s reps have since confirmed to The Post that he is weighing out his options and possibilities following his bitter departure from the organization.
