Prince Harry and Prince William's charities have been reported to the Charity Commission by anti-monarchy campaigners Republic for alleged inappropriate use of funds after Prince Harry's royal exit. When he and Meghan left the royal family, Harry no longer ran his projects through The Royal Foundation but set up Sussex Royal instead. Some Royal Foundation money then went to Sussex Royal and some money was transferred to Travalyst, the Duke's eco-tourism project.
Prince Harry & Prince William allegedly mishandled funds
In a letter to the U.K. Charity Commission, Republic now claims the following: "The Royal Foundation gave a grant of £145,000 to Sussex Royal and £144,901 to a non-charitable organisation (Travalyst). In both instances it appears the only rationale for the decision was the personal relationship between two patrons, the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of Cambridge."
A member of Harry's legal team (he is being represented by the London-based firm Schilling) responded to the claims made by Republic as follows: "The Duke of Sussex has always and continues to remain deeply committed to his charitable work. This is his life's focus, and his devotion to charity is at the very core of the principles he lives by, and is obvious through the impact and success of his many charitable projects throughout the U.K. and beyond."
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"To this point, it is deeply offensive to today see false claims made about the Duke of Sussex and his charitable work. It is both defamatory and insulting to all the outstanding organizations and people he has partnered with. Travalyst (which was founded within Sussex Royal) is a non-profit organization for which the Duke receives no commercial or financial gain, as is the case with all of his charitable commitments."
Graham Smith, chief executive for Republic remains firm in his stance: "Maybe I'm missing something here, but I find it difficult to believe that a charity making an independent and impartial decision would decide to make these payments. The Royal Foundation has lost almost £300,000 to Prince Harry’s pet projects. Harry's own charity is now closing and he appears to be taking the charity's money with him. I can't see how that isn’t a breach of charity law."
And a spokesperson for The Royal Foundation also commented on the issues: "The grants made to Sussex Royal were to support the charitable work of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. They were fully in line with governance requirements and were reported transparently."
Meanwhile, the U.K. Charity Commission has confirmed that they have received a complaint regarding an alleged mishandling of funds and they are looking into it. We will keep you posted on this story as it develops.
