LONDON — Prince Harry finds himself in legal trouble with an organization he helped create to commemorate his mother, Princess Diana, as the African charity has taken him to court on defamation charges following his departure as patron last year.
Court documents examined on Friday reveal that Sentebale, an organization dedicated to helping HIV-positive youth in Botswana and Lesotho, initiated legal proceedings against the Duke of Sussex last month through London’s High Court.
The legal filings indicate that both Harry and Mark Dyer, who serves as a trustee for the organization and is a close friend of the prince, face accusations of either libel or slander, though specific documentation remains unavailable to the public.
Internal conflicts within the charity became apparent in 2023 when disputes arose regarding a proposed new approach to fundraising. Both Harry and his co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, resigned from their patron positions in March 2025.
During their departure, the co-founders stated that the working relationship with the board and its chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka, had deteriorated beyond any possibility of reconciliation. Chandauka subsequently alleged that Harry had led a systematic effort involving intimidation and harassment aimed at forcing her resignation.
Following an official review by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, investigators found fault with both parties for allowing their internal conflicts to become public knowledge, thereby causing damage to the organization’s standing. However, the investigation uncovered no proof of systematic bullying or gender-based discrimination within Sentebale.
“Sentebale’s problems played out in the public eye, enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity’s reputation, risk overshadowing its many achievements, and jeopardizing the charity’s ability to deliver for the very beneficiaries it was created to serve,” commission CEO David Holdsworth said in a statement in August 2025.
While Harry’s representative expressed disapproval of the commission’s findings, Chandauka praised the report’s conclusions.
