Big U.K. Charity Drops CEO Over Private-School Payments

The Halo Trust, an international land-mine-clearing charity that has been prominently supported by the British royal family, has suspended its co-founder and chief executive following reports that his compensation included hundreds of thousands of dollars to send his children to elite boarding schools, according to The Telegraph.

Guy Willoughby was ordered by trustees to step down last week after he refused to resign, according to the newspaper, which had reported in January that his pay of $360,000 to $380,000 a year included tuition costs for three of his children. The arrangement was approved more than a decade ago by a previous board.

The Halo Trust rose to prominence in 1997 when Princess Diana visited a minefield it was clearing in Angola shortly before her death. Her son, Prince Harry, recently served for a year as the Scotland-based charity’s patron. It has become one of Britain’s biggest nonprofits, with some 7,000 employees worldwide and annual revenue of about $44.5-million.

A statement from the trust cited “a serious deterioration in relations” between Mr. Willoughby and the board over governance issues. A friend of the former CEO told The Telegraph that Mr. Willoughy’s ouster “is about a clash with some of the trustees” and is “damaging to the charity.”