The Zimbabwean lawyer who took on Prince Harry’s charity and won

Speaking at the time of her appointment as chairman, she cited her trajectory from “the young girl from Zimbabwe” to having a “world-class education and career” as inspiration for Sentebale’s “capacity to transform lives and inspire youngsters to reach for the stars and define their own destinies”.

The charity was co-founded by the Duke and his friend Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 to support children affected by HIV in the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho and nearby Botswana.

Ms Chandauka was born and raised in southern Africa, but pursued education in Canada, the US and the UK through various merit-based scholarships.

The New York-based lawyer has said she owes her career to the “many people [who] took a chance on me…and gave me air cover when the odds were stacked against me”.

She qualified as a corporate lawyer with Baker & McKenzie, one of the largest international law firms, in London in 2005 after spending two years as a trainee solicitor there.

Ms Chandauka then spent six years as a senior associate, advising on high-profile transactions, including Nike’s acquisition of Umbro and the £652.3 million acquisition of The Body Shop by L’Oréal.

From there, she was headhunted to become the head of group treasury for Virgin Money’s legal team, where she spent more than four years, including during the company’s IPO in 2014.

In 2016, Ms Chandauka took on a role at Morgan Stanley in London, becoming chief operations officer of the legal and compliance division in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

She then relocated to New York to work for the company for another few years before going to Meta, formerly known as Facebook. There, she served as the head of Americas risk management and intelligence for almost two years.

In 2021, Ms Chandauka was honoured by Elizabeth II and awarded an MBE for extraordinary services to diversity in business.

Two years ago, alongside her brother Dr Tinashe Chandauka, she co-founded an immuno-oncology biotech company, Nandi Life Sciences, to develop therapies for rare cancers and auto-immune diseases.

It has previously been voted by investors as number three in the top 10 most promising early-stage life science companies at the Texas Life Science Forum, one of the leading life science conferences in the US.

She is also the chairman and executive founder of the Black British Business Awards, which for over a decade have championed change across Britain’s industries by supporting the advancement of black British professionals into leadership positions. Endorsed by three prime ministers and the Mayor of London, the awards advocate for an equitable representation of black professionals in business.

JP Morgan has been the key partner of Ms Chandauka’s awards for six years, while The Telegraph has been the national media partner for eight consecutive years.

Speaking to The Telegraph in 2023 about the awards, she said: “Sometimes there’s a misunderstanding that I only care about black people.

“What I care about is working in organisations that create conditions for the most amazing teams.”

Ms Chandauka also credits billionaire Sir Richard Branson for “really giving us our wings” when in 2014, the Virgin founder shared an article by her about the awards on X, formerly Twitter.

She has previously told Harper’s Bazaar that she thinks success is “about knowing how to create high-performing teams”, as well as about “impact and delivery”.

Prince steps back from charity

Now, she is in the midst of a high-profile falling out with the entire board of Sentebale, who resigned on Tuesday night to avoid the charity facing a “legal and financial burden” from Ms Chandauka’s lawsuit, which she filed after she was asked to step down.

The Duke also stepped away from the charity. Ms Chandauka said she would remain chairman of the charity’s board following his departure.

In a joint statement, the Duke of Sussex and Prince Seeiso said: “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.”

Speaking about the row, Ms Chandauka said: “Beneath all the victim narrative and fiction that has been syndicated to press is the story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir — and the cover-up that ensued.

“I could be anyone. I just happen to be an educated woman who understands that the law will guide and protect me. I will say nothing further on this matter at this time.”