Jeremy Clarkson’s business partner quits Harry’s charity after star’s Meghan row

Jeremy Clarkson’s pal and colleague Johnny Hornby has quit his role as a trustee for Prince Harry’s charity, Sentebale, after 11 years.

Johnny was also a chairman on the Duke of Sussex’s charity’s board over the past five years.

The Top Gear star’s business partner confirmed his exit to The Mirror, saying: “I have spent 11 years with Sentebale and 5 of them as Chairman – it’s a wonderful charity trying to do all it can to help the life chances of young people in Lesotho and Botswana either infected with or effected by HIV.

“The work the teams do in country is incredible and I hope the charity – now under Sophie’s leadership – will go on to be even more effective in helping young lives. It’s been a privilege to work with Sentebale over more than a decade.”

However, Johnny also denied reports that he was the person who urged Jeremy, 63, to apologise for the comments he made about Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, 41, last year.

Johnny told the publication: “Jeremy’s decision to apologise to Meghan for what he had said was entirely his.

“And anyone who knows Jeremy as I do – knows he’s never told what to do by anyone else.”

Alongside his work with Prince Harry on Sentebale, which helps children and adolescents struggling to come to terms with their HIV status, Johnny also collaborated with Jeremy on his Hawkstone produce.

The pals have produced lager, pale ale, a cider, and vodka through their brewing venture.

The news of Johnny’s departure from Prince Harry’s charity comes after his business partner, Jeremy’s, column about Meghan was ruled as “sexist” by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso).

In the controversial column for The Sun, which has since been deleted, Jeremy wrote that he “hated” the Duchess of Sussex and wanted to see her “paraded naked through the streets”.

After facing backlash for his words, Jeremy apologised, saying he was “really sorry” all the way “from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head”.

The Sussexes hit back by stating that Clarkson’s email was only sent to Prince Harry and slammed the star for not addressing his “long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny”.

The Grand Tour presenter then gave a public apology addressed to Meghan.

In response, Harry and Meghan issued a statement, stating that it was “clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate”.