Prince Harry has been sued for defamation by a charity he helped create to honor his late mother, Princess Diana.
According to court records viewed by the Associated Press on Friday, April 10, Sentebale has accused Harry, 41, and friend Mark Dyer, who was a trustee for the organization, of either libel or slander. The lawsuit was filed in London’s High Court last month, per the outlet.
“As Sentebale’s co-founder and a founding trustee, they categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims,” a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex and Dyer said in a statement to Luxury Handbag Shopping on Friday. “It is extraordinary that charitable funds are now being used to pursue legal action against the very people who built and supported the organisation for nearly two decades, rather than being directed to the communities the charity was created to serve.”
Sentebale is a charity that Harry founded alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006. The nonprofit supports people living with HIV in Botswana and Lesotho. Diana was an advocate for HIV and AIDS prevention, and the goal of Sentebale was to continue the late royal’s efforts.
Last year, Harry and Seeiso, 59, made headlines when they announced that they were stepping down as patrons for Sentebale. The pair claimed that their decision to leave was due to tension with Sentable’s chair of the board, Dr. Sophie Chandauka.
“It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation,” Harry and Seeiso said in a March 2025 statement obtained by the Times of London, The Guardian and the BBC. “We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries, so we will be sharing all of our concerns with the [U.K.] Charity Commission as to how this came about.”
Chandauka, for her part, accused the charity of “poor governance, weak executive management [and] abuse of power.”
“There are people in this world who behave as though they are above the law and mistreat people, and then play the victim card and use the very press they disdain to harm people who have the courage to challenge their conduct,” Chandauka said in a statement to Us.
Harry and Chandauka both went to the U.K. Charity Commission (CC) with complaints about each other. An official investigation of the nonprofit’s behind-the-scenes drama was subsequently opened.
The CC’s investigation concluded in August 2025. Harry was cleared of any wrongdoing, and Chandauka was allowed to continue serving as Sentebale’s chairperson. The CC’s report warned Harry and Chandauka that Sentebale could face serious questions about its viability due to its “failure to resolve disputes internally.”
“Sentebale has been a deeply personal and transformative mission for Prince Harry, established to serve some of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana,” Harry’s spokesperson said in a statement to Us following the investigation. “For 19 years, its dedicated staff and steadfast supporters have provided vital care to over 100,000 young people across southern Africa, including young people living with HIV/AIDS and those facing mental health challenges.”
The statement continued, “As custodians of this once brilliant charity, Prince Seeiso, Prince Harry and the former Board of Trustees helped grow Sentebale from the seed of an idea to — like its namesake — a flowering force for good. With the original mission of Sentebale firmly in mind — and in honor of the legacy he and Prince Seeiso began — The Duke of Sussex will now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana.”
