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A charity founded by Prince Harry in Africa to honor his late mother, Princess Diana, has sued him for defamation after he stepped down as patron last year.
Sentebale, which supports young people living with HIV in Botswana and Lesotho, filed the lawsuit last month in London’s High Court, according to court records seen on Friday. Online filings show that Harry and his friend, Mark Dyer, a former charity trustee, are being sued for libel or defamation. No documents were available.
“The charity wants the court to intervene, protect it and reinstate it following the bad media campaign that has been carried out since March 25, 2025, which has caused harm and damage to the reputation of the charity, its leadership and partners,” said Sentebale on Friday in a statement on his website.
A spokesperson for Harry and Dyer said the couple “absolutely rejects these offensive and hurtful claims.”
The case puts the Duke of Sussex in the unusual position of being a defendant in the High Court. For the past three years, he has been repeatedly on the other side of the case as the lead plaintiff in the invasion of privacy cases at Britain’s most prominent newspapers over alleged wiretapping and illegal surveillance of journalists and the private eyes they hire.
It was established twenty years ago
Harry founded Sentebale, which means “forget me not” in the Lesotho language, about 20 years ago in memory of his mother, who was a prominent advocate for HIV and AIDS treatment and helped reduce stigma around the disease. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho was a co-founder.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were spotted out front at Game 4 of the World Series, cheering on the LA Dodgers. Harry’s father is the king of Canada and Meghan lived in Toronto while filming the TV show.
Disagreements within the charity emerged in 2023 over a new fundraising strategy, and the two founders stepped down as patrons in March 2025 in favor of outgoing trustees.
At that time, they said that the relationship between the board and its chairman, Mr. Sophie Chandauka, has not been repaired. Chandauka later accused Harry of orchestrating a campaign of harassment and abuse to try to force him out.
As the dispute continued, Chandauka told Sky News that the filming of one of Harry’s Netflix shows had disrupted a planned fundraiser for Sentebale and that the incident with his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was a source of friction.
The charity commission for England and Wales investigated and criticized both parties for allowing the matter to become public and tarnish the organisation’s reputation, but found no evidence of widespread bullying or misconduct against women at Sentebale.
“Sentebale’s problems were exposed to the public eye, allowing a damaging controversy to damage the charity’s reputation, risk overshadowing many of its achievements, and jeopardize the charity’s ability to deliver to the beneficiaries it was designed to serve,” commission chief executive David Holdsworth said in an August 2025 statement.
Harry’s spokesman criticized the commission’s report while Chandauka welcomed it.
