The claim has been made in an explosive new book about Meghan and Harry, ‘Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family ‘, by prolific author Tom Bower
Harry was allegedly “stunned” by the audit’s findings, according to a new book(Image: ITV)
Prince Harry reacted angrily after being told his controversial memoir Spare and he and Meghan’s Netflix series had hurt his ‘brand, a new book has claimed.
The royal, 41, allegedly blasted the chairwoman of his charity Sentebale for carrying out a brand audit, which it is claimed found “people don’t want to be associated with your Netflix shows and especially not with Meghan” and “implied that he had suffered psychological harm” as a result.
The bombshell book, ‘Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family ‘, by royal author Tom Bower, also alleges Harry was “stunned” by its findings and questioned how he and his wife could not bounce back in the same way that Johnny Depp had after bitter courtroom battles with Amber Heard.
Harry with Sentebale chairwoman Sophie Chandauka, during the Royal Salute Polo Challenge, to benefit Sentebale, at the USPA National Polo Center in Wellington, Florida, in 2024(Image: PA)
Mr Bower also claims Harry showed “coolness” to then new Sentebale chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka, after she told him about the findings during a flight to Singapore while on the way to a fundraising trip to Tokyo in 2023, as well as problems with the charity. The book, which is being serialised in The Times and The Sunday Times, states: “On their flight to Singapore, the outspoken lawyer introduced another unpleasant reality check. Corporate brands hate controversy.
“After conducting a brand audit among 50 organisations and donors, she told Harry she had discovered that his personal brand value had crashed. ‘People don’t want to be associated with your Netflix shows and especially not with Meghan,’ she reported. The survey also discovered that Meghan had little brand value in America. Across the globe, she actually damaged Harry’s remaining brand value.
“Accustomed to being hailed as ‘box office’, Harry was stunned. Johnny Depp, he replied, had still attracted a lot of money despite his bitter courtroom battles with Amber Heard. Couldn’t he do the same? Times have changed, Chandauka replied. The proof was in the finances.
Harry was allegedly told: ‘People don’t want to be associated with your Netflix shows and especially not with Meghan'(Image: Getty Images)
“Following critical comments about Harry and Meghan on the polo clubs’ websites and suspicions about Harry’s acceptance of a $1 million fee for addressing an investment conference in Florida, American polo sponsors had cancelled their donations and Audi had withdrawn its annual $1 million sponsorship. ‘They don’t want to be associated with a Page Six story,’ Chandauka told Harry, referring to the New York Post’s gossip column.”
In the book, Mr Bower adds: “Eyewitnesses at the polo match in Singapore noticed Harry’s coolness towards the new chairwoman. Sentebale, Harry told Chandauka, was relying too much on his money and his polo matches. He would only commit to future polo matches if the profit was doubled to at least £700,000. Chandauka realised that Harry hadn’t listened. He did not want to register that Spare and the Netflix series had damaged his brand value.”
He writes: “By September 2023, Harry had understood Chandauka’s warning. At Sentebale’s board meeting, Harry agreed to close the charity’s London office, move the management to Lesotho and find more American donors. Most importantly, the charity would abandon its unique focus on HIV sufferers. Instead, under ‘Project Pivot’, Sentebale would promote children’s health and education. The transformation matched the ambitions of the staff in Lesotho and Botswana. Finally, Harry agreed to re-engage with Sentebale by flying to Lesotho in late 2024, his first visit in five years.
“At the same meeting, the trustees considered Harry’s brand value. ‘The more you ascend, the less oxygen you have to tell the truth,’ Jonathan Mildenhall, a marketing expert introduced by Chandauka, told Harry. ‘Spare should have been called Duty,’ Mildenhall continued. ‘Your image is bad,’ the prince was told. Raising money in America would be difficult because ‘you’re not special’. ‘How come no one told me?’ asked Harry, puzzled by the term ‘brand audit’.
Author Tom Bower previously wrote another controversial book about Harry and Meghan in 2022(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“The solution, Harry agreed, was to abandon the ‘poor rich prince’ narrative and go back to basics. ‘Americans love a comeback story,’ said Chandauka. ‘We need American corporates who want to be associated with your mission, not you personally. They don’t want your victimhood. We’ve got to pitch it right for the young philanthropists. It can’t be Africans with a begging bowl’.”
The book also claims before Harry left Singapore, Midori Miyazaki, executive director of Japanese firm Handa was considering ending the firm’s sponsorship of Sentebale. The book alleges: “To restore goodwill, Chandauka met Miyazaki for dinner at Nobu in New York. After sending back several bottles of champagne for lacking enough ‘bubble’, Miyazaki expressed her outrage that Harry objected to his overexposure in Tokyo.
“Shortly afterwards, Chandauka repeated Harry’s request that Handa double his annual donation to £1 million. Miyazaki’s anger soared. Insulted by Harry’s ingratitude for her loyalty after every other sponsor had pulled out, Miyazaki confirmed that Handa would no longer support Sentebale’s polo matches. With that, she ordered an Uber and disappeared. That night, Sentebale lost 23 per cent of its income.
“The Nobu bust-up was reported to Harry, who is thought to have blamed Chandauka for losing the sponsorship. ‘Midori says that she won’t sponsor us unless you leave,’ he told Chandauka on a Zoom call. He went further. ‘Your brand audit has damaged me. You shouldn’t have done it.’ Harry implied that he had suffered psychological harm from the audit. Harry repeated Meghan’s alarm: Chandauka’s audit had also damaged his wife. The Zoom meeting ended on an unsettled note.
The book is being serialised in The Times and Sunday Times(Image: Times magazine)
“After his trip to southern Africa in October 2024, Harry returned to Montecito committed to bringing Sentebale under his control. He and his old friends on the board ‘unleashed the Sussex machine on me,’ Chandauka complained. In her opinion, Harry and other white privileged men were undermining a black woman. That imbalance of power, thought Chandauka, amounted to bullying.
“The attempted coup failed. In March 2025 Harry resigned from Sentebale, along with his co-founder Prince Seeiso and the board of trustees. In the charity’s next annual report, Chandauka would boast that Sentebale’s annual income had remained roughly the same at £3.35 million. All the institutional donors had continued their support to the benefit of 78,000 children. The charity’s future without Harry, she reported, was secure.”
The release of the latest extract came 24 hours after an initial one claimed Queen Camilla said Prince Harry had been “brainwashed” by Meghan. According to Mr Bower, the King’s wife made the comment after her youngest step-son, 41, and his wife, 44, began to battle with the rest of the family, including Prince William and his wife Princess Kate, who are said to have raised concerns about the relationship.
The book also alleges Meghan snapped at William during an intended reconciliation meeting, which saw her furiously order him: “If you don’t mind, get your finger out of my face”. Bower also claims William and Kate considered Meghan a threat to the royal family and that they had been unhappy by how Harry had cut off old pals after he first got together with the former actress.
Camilla is alleged to have made the claim about her step son to an unnamed pal(Image: Shutterstock)
It led to Harry and Meghan launching a blistering attack on the author on Saturday morning, including by claiming he is “clouded by hatred”. They said: “Mr Bower’s commentary has long crossed the line from criticism into fixation. This is someone who has publicly stated, ‘The monarchy in fact depends on actually obliterating the Sussexes from our state of life’ – language that speaks for itself.
“He has made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met. Those interested in facts will look elsewhere; those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him.”
Sentebale did not respond to a request for comment.
The book, Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family, is being published on March 26.