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Prince Harry's charity took nearly £19,000 in furlough cash

Prince Harry’s charity for African orphans took nearly £19,000 in furlough cash from the British taxpayer – even though it boasted a £3.1M income in the year to last August

  • Sentebale claimed £19,000 from British taxpayer in furlough scheme in 2020/21 
  • Charity boasted an increased income of £3.1m in the 12 months to last August 
  • Estimates suggest UK-wide furlough payments had soared to £70bn by late 2021

Prince Harry’s charity for orphaned African children claimed almost £20,000 in taxpayer cash during the pandemic despite boasting a multimillion pound income, it was revealed today.

The Duke of Sussex took the extraordinary step of suing Her Majesty’s Government over the withdrawl of his state-funded bodyguards, but Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in 2006, was happy to lean on the hard-pressed British taxpayer.

Prince Harry’s organisation claimed almost £20,000 of taxpayers’ cash over the past two years. 

Newly released accounts disclose that Sentebale – which translates to ‘Forget Me Not’ in Sesotho – claimed £5,000 from the Government’s Job Retention scheme last year, on top of £14,000 in 2020. 

The claim was made even though the charity boasted an income of £3.1 million in the 12 months to last August, an increase of £736,000 from the previous year.

The Duke of Sussex took the extraordinary step of suing Her Majesty’s Government over the withdrawl of his state-funded bodyguards, but Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in 2006, was happy to lean on the hard-pressed British taxpayer

The organisation, co-founded by the Duke of Sussex (pictured in June 2019) claimed £5,000 from the Government’s Job Retention scheme last year, on top of £14,000 in 2020

It is not known how much was donated by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are said to have signed a £100 million deal with American streaming giant Netflix and a rumoured £18 million contract with audio company Spotify, in addition to other income. 

They live in a nine-bedroom mansion in Montecito, California, which has 16 bathrooms.

Furlough allowed firms to claim up to 80 per cent of their workers’ usual wages, up to a ceiling of £2,500-a-month.

Statistics suggest the value of claims made by furlough claimants from April 2020 to November 2021 cost the public purse around £70billion. 

Sentebale’s accounts report that almost £1 million of its income came from its U.S. division. 

Prince Harry takes a photograph of Prince Seeiso using a Fuji Instax camera during a photography activity ac the new Mamohao Children’s Centre in October 2015

The Duke of Sussex takes part in activities with children at the Khayelitsha Football for Hope project in Cape Town during his visit to South Africa on behalf of Sentebale in 2015

Prince Harry speaks to Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso and his wife Princess Mabereng Seeiso during a reception before a concert hosted by his charity Sentebale at Hampton Court Palace in 2019

Of the total, £1.2 million came from events, £1 million from institutional funding, £413,000 from trusts and foundations, £314,000 in gifts in kind, £144,000 from corporate donors, £31,000 from general donations, £21,000 in investments and £10,000 in legacies.

A note says: ‘After a difficult period, we are grateful to all our generous supporters who enabled us to end the year in a much stronger position than we started, with increased income compared to 2020.’

Total spending at the charity came to £3 million for 2021, against £2.8 million the previous year. 

Staff numbers increased to 104 from 64, comprising 66 in Lesotho, 32 in Botswana and six in London. 

A Sentebale spokesman could not be reached for comment while Prince Harry declines to speak to the popular Press.

The Duke of Sussex co-founded Sentebale in 2006 to help vulnerable children in Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi, including those who are affected by extreme poverty and the HIV/Aids epidemic. 

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