An African AIDS charity cofounded by the United Kingdom’s Prince Harry in honour of his late mother Princess Diana has sued him for defamation after he stepped down as a patron last year, following a management dispute.
“Sentebale has commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of England and Wales,” the charity said in a statement on Friday.
“The charity seeks the court’s intervention, protection and restitution following a coordinated adverse media campaign conducted since 25 March 2025 that has caused operational disruption and reputational harm to the charity, its leadership and its strategic partners,” it said.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry said he “categorically” rejects the “offensive and damaging” libel claim, the Reuters news agency reported.
Online court filings show the prince is a defendant in the suit alongside Mark Dyer, who was also previously a trustee of the Sentebale charity, according to UK media reports.
“The proceedings have been brought against Prince Harry and Mark Dyer, identified through evidence as the architects of that adverse media campaign, which has had significant viral impact and triggered an onslaught of cyber-bullying directed at the charity and its leadership,” Sentebale added.
Harry cofounded Sentebale about 20 years ago in memory of his mother, who was a prominent advocate for the treatment of HIV and AIDS and helped reduce stigma around the disease. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho was the cofounder.
Disagreements at the charity surfaced in 2023 over a new fundraising strategy, and the two founders stepped down as patrons in March 2025 in support of trustees who had quit.
At the time, they said the relationship between the board and its chair, Sophie Chandauka, was beyond repair. Chandauka later accused Harry of orchestrating a campaign of bullying and harassment to try to force her out.
After a months-long inquiry, the UK’s Charity Commission said in August that it had found no evidence of bullying – a charge Chandauka had levelled at Harry in March 2025.
However, it said there had been weak governance and criticised all parties for allowing an internal dispute to become public.
Harry’s spokesperson had criticised the commission’s report while Chandauka welcomed it.
Harry – the youngest son of the UK’s King Charles III – and cofounder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho announced last year they were resigning from the charity, after the trustees quit.
Speaking to British media after accusing the prince of trying to force her out, Chandauka criticised Harry for his decision to bring a Netflix camera crew to a fundraiser in 2024.
She also objected to an unplanned appearance by his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, at the event.
The accusations were a new blow for the prince, who kept only a handful of his private patronages, including with Sentebale, after a dramatic split with the British royal family in 2020.
Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when the prince was just 12.
Sentebale means “forget me not” in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.
DW Russian 
