LONDON (AP) — Britain’s charity regulator has opened an investigation into an African charity co-founded by Prince Harry, a week after the prince and the organization’s board of trustees resigned amid a dispute with the charity’s chairwoman.

Sentebale, which provides support for young people in Botswana and Lesotho, has been wracked by turmoil since Harry and his co-founder abruptly resigned March 26, saying the relationship between the board and its chair was beyond repair.

Chair Sophie Chandauka later accused the prince of orchestrating a campaign of bullying and harassment to try to force her out.

The Charity Commission said Thursday that it was in “direct contact” with parties on both sides to gather evidence in its compliance case.

“The regulator’s focus, in line with its statutory remit, will be to determine whether the charity’s current and former trustees, including its chair, have fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law,” the commission said in a statement.

Chandauka criticized Harry in an interview with Sky News on Sunday, saying that filming for the prince’s latest Netflix program interfered with a scheduled fundraiser for Sentebale and an incident with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, became a source of friction.

Harry co-founded Sentebale, which means “forget me not” in the language of Lesotho, nearly 20 years ago in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.

He said he hoped the Charity Commission would uncover “the truth” about what caused him to resign as patron of Sentebale.

“What has transpired over the last week has been heartbreaking to witness, especially when such blatant lies hurt those who have invested decades in this shared goal,” he said in a statement. “No one suffers more than the beneficiaries of Sentebale itself.”

Harry’s resignation came as Chandauka made allegations of bullying, harassment, sexism and racism against unnamed board members.

Harry and co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho were patrons of Sentebale but weren’t on the board of trustees. They said they decided to relinquish their roles as ambassadors for the charity to support the former trustees in their dispute with Chandauka.

Chandauka, a corporate lawyer and businesswoman from Zimbabwe, welcomed the commission’s actions and said she had reported various governance and administration issues to the agency in February. She also said Sentebale initiated its own internal review last year.

“We hope that, together, these actions will give the general public, our colleagues, partners, supporters, donors and the communities we serve comfort that Sentebale and its new Board of Trustees are acting appropriately to demonstrate and ensure good governance and a healthy culture for Sentebale to thrive,” she said in a statement.

LONDON (AP) — The chairperson of an African charity co-founded by Prince Harry accused the royal on Sunday of orchestrating a bullying and harassment campaign to try to force her out as she pushed back following his abrupt resignation from the organization.

Sophie Chandauka, the Sentebale chair, took several shots at Harry on Sky News in which she described how the prince’s Netflix deal interfered with a scheduled fundraiser and how an incident with his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, became a source of friction.

The Duke of Sussex cited a breakdown in the relationship between board members and Chandauka when he resigned Tuesday as a patron of the charity he co-founded nearly 20 years ago in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.

Harry and co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho said in a joint statement that they quit “with heavy hearts” as patrons in support of the trustees in their dispute with Chandauka.

“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,” the princes said. “In turn, she sued the charity to remain in this voluntary position, further underscoring the broken relationship.”

Chandauka said she reported Sentebale’s trustees to the Charity Commission in the U.K. and filed papers in a British court to prevent her removal.

She alleged there was misconduct at the charity without naming anyone or offering any details in a statement Tuesday. It said she had tried to blow the whistle on “abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir,” the latter word referring to a combination of racism and misogyny directed toward Black women.

Chandauka told Sky that Harry’s resignation had caught her blindsided and was “an example of harassment and bullying at scale.” She said he also had interfered with her whistleblower complaint.

“So it’s a cover-up, and the prince is involved,” she said.

Chandauka said there was a significant drop in donors after Harry and Meghan left official royal duties in January 2020, and eventually settled in California.

The charity, whose name means “don’t forget me” in the Sesotho language of Lesotho and South Africa, was founded to help youths affected by AIDS in the small mountainous nation and in Botswana. But it is now moving to address youth health, wealth and climate resilience in southern Africa.

The biggest risk to the charity was the “toxicity of its lead patron’s brand,” Chandauka told the Financial Times.

A person close to the charity’s patrons and trustees and familiar with events countered Chandauka’s claims. The person, who requested anonymity because the allegations are under scrutiny by the Charity Commission, said Harry and Seeiso had sent a resignation letter to the chair on March 10 — two weeks before they went public with the news.

The person said the trustees and patrons were firm in their decision to leave and had collectively decided to resign with the expectation Chandauka would pull such a publicity stunt after their departure.

In the Sky interview, she said that a polo fundraiser scheduled in Miami last year almost fell apart when Harry asked to bring a camera crew along that was filming him for a Netflix series on the sport.

The cost of the venue skyrocketed when it became a commercial venture and they scrambled to find another host, which Harry arranged through his connections, she said.

Meghan’s surprise appearance at the event led to an awkward moment during the trophy presentation after the match, Chandauka said.

In a video clip circulated on social media, Chandauka tried to pose next to the duke as he held the trophy in one hand and had his other wrapped around Meghan. But the duchess appeared to gesture that Chandauka move farther from Harry, forcing her to duck under the silver cup to get into the photo.

“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,” Chandauka said.

She said she rejected Harry’s request that she issue a statement in support of Meghan, because “we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.”