This week, the Telegraph published a lengthy interview with Chief Khoabane Theko of Sentebale. Chief Theko claimed that he was Prince Seeiso’s brother. Seeiso and Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale together in 2006, and they were dual royal patrons of the foundation before they stepped down jointly in late March. As soon as they stepped down together, everyone made it all about Harry and… Meghan. As in, Meghan was to blame for all of the problems within Sentebale, and something something, Meghan said “hi” to Sophie Chandauka and Chandauka lost her damn mind. It’s been a very bizarre story to follow. What makes matters worse is that an outlet like the Telegraph would publish such a blatant hit piece on the Sussexes, and they didn’t bother fact-checking one crucial point: Chief Theko is not Prince Seeiso’s brother. Seeiso has one brother – King Letsie III of Lesotho. No one at the Telegraph bothered fact-checking that before they published it? I guess not. But Us Weekly had an update:
Following Prince Harry’s exit from Sentebale, drama ensued — including a man falsely claiming to be the brother of cofounder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
After the man’s inaccurate claims made headlines, Us Weekly learned that Principal Chief Khoabane Theko is not Seeiso’s brother and has no connection to the charity.
Among the allegations Theko claimed to The Telegraph on Wednesday, April 16, was that Harry could have visited Lesotho “more often.” Harry’s 2024 visit to Lesotho marked his first in six years (including two years at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic). He had previously traveled there four times between 2010 and 2015.
Theko, for his part, claimed he was “perturbed” to see Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, taking a trip to Africa in September 2019 without going to Lesotho. (During the trip, the couple had a busy itinerary with meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a tour of the District Six Museum, a trip to Monwabisi Beach and planting trees at the Chobe Forest Tree Reserve, among other things.)
I looked around at other coverage too, and Page Six actually wrote “Principal Chief Khoabane Theko, a man claiming to be co-founder Prince Seeiso’s brother.” Like, people, this isn’t hard. I fact-checked this in a matter of minutes using Wikipedia. Why did the Telegraph lie? I’ve also wondered why all of these people have zero smoke for Seeiso, and why Seeiso hasn’t said anything other than signing off on the joint statements with Harry. I’m not saying Seeiso is responsible for any of this, but how long can he stay silent as people are falsely claiming to be his brother, all to attack Harry and Meghan?
Oh, look at that – the Telegraph eventually edited their piece and added this correction at the very end of their article: “CORRECTION: This article previously reported that Chief Khoabane Theko is the brother of Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. This was incorrect. Chief Theko is the chief whip of Lesotho’s Senate, and a senior and influential member of the College of Chiefs and the royal family. We are happy to correct the record.”
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I wonder what this guy’s motivation was, since this information was easily found. It’s kind of the same as the doctor, making these false accusations and using these false credentials that fall apart with the most basic investigation. I suppose they figured no one would look deeper, but that’s silly in this day and age, and it just in turn makes you look like a bitter liar.
These talking points though especially aimed towards Meghan, make me wonder if there’s not some real resentment there that Harry married her. At the time with Dr.Sophie it just seemed like one bitter person but maybe that feeling is more widespread.
And I’m not going to knock Prince Sessio. I said the same thing when Sophie did her weekend of interviews and they didn’t say anything, this type of stuff even though it gets a lot of attention initially seems to be falling apart within 24 to 48 hours. It’s better I think to let this happen the way it is then them feeding into the cycle and given the press a back and forth to misrepresent.
The Torygraph got embarrassed that the US gossip press, of all things, debunked their hit piece.
I wish this would happen even more. Love it.
I know Harry still believes in the journalism of the Telegraph but perhaps it’s time to treat them in thr same way that he treats the tabloids.
Yes . Prince Harry should treat The Telegraph same as tabloids as they are full of inaccuracies in their reporting.
Telegraph should apologise instead of saying they are happy to correct.
And they should put the correction at the top of the story, how many people actually read every article to the end.
🎯
Simple. Instead of repeating the lies they could do a very small bit of research to find the truth but these days truth doesn’t seem to matter. Selling papers is priority number one and truth falls by the wayside!!
Meredith , the Sussex comms manager, must have many people looking at the articles to flag the trouble coming the Sussex way. To use… Harry’s direct quotes in big publications, like People, Meghan’s Instagram, using named sources to comment on sussex behalf, or just ensuring these lies are corrected by the liar.
She is very strategic and thumb stamping out these little to midling, wild ly inaccurrate , arson fires of lies , befor they spread. She is ensuring the business of the sussexes , the lawsuits /appeals and charitys are safeguarded.
I love this for harry and meghan. Esp Harry, he exactly knows to respond swiftly, They do their thing, and meredith to liars .. nope..thumb stamp.. nope..thumb stamp
‘Among the allegations Theko claimed to The Telegraph on Wednesday, April 16, was that Harry could have visited Lesotho “more often.” ‘
— IIRC, his claim was that Harry hasn’t visited at all, since his marriage. Which claim, IIRC, is also not true.
My heart ❤️ goes out to the Sussexes. I pray for their physical and mental well-being and their continued financial independence. I will continue to support them because they are not being treated as human beings but as commodity by people who financially benefit from them through content for sale or those who expect them to be their avatars for whatever cause they desire them to represent or promote.