Prince Harry sued for defamation by UK charity Sentebale

Prince Harry is being sued for defamation by the charity he co-founded in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana.​

The royal family launched Sentebale in 2006 to help young people living with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana.

The charity hit the headlines in March last year when the Duke of Sussex quit after a high-profile dispute.​

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A spokesperson for Sentebale said the lawsuit stems from an alleged “negative media campaign” and claimed it caused disruption and “reputational damage” to the charity.

According to a document made public on Friday, the charity filed a defamation claim in the High Court last month against Harry and a former trustee at the charity, Mark Dyer. ​

The pair are being sued for libel or slander. No documents were available.

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“The charity is seeking the intervention, protection and restitution of the court following a coordinated negative media campaign conducted since March 25, 2025, which has caused operational disruption and reputational damage to the charity, its leadership and its strategic partners,” Sentebale said in a statement on its website on Friday.

A spokesperson for Harry and Dyer said the couple “categorically rejects these offensive and damaging claims.”

The lawsuit puts the Duke of Sussex in an unusual position as a defendant at the High Court.

Over the past three years, he has repeatedly been on the other side of the lawsuit as the lead plaintiff breach of privacy lawsuits against Britain’s most prominent tabloids about allegations of phone hacking and illegal snooping by journalists and the private investigators they hire.

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Harry co-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 the treatment of HIV and AIDS and helped reduce the stigma surrounding the disease. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho was the co-founder.

In 2023, disagreements at the charity emerged over a new fundraising strategy, and the two founders stepped down as patrons in March 2025 in support of the 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 intimidation to try to get her out.

As the dispute unfolded, Chandauka narrated Sky News that filming for one of Harry’s Netflix shows had disrupted a planned fundraiser for Sentebale and that an incident involving his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, became a source of friction.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales investigated and criticized both parties for allowing the issue to become public and damage the organisation’s reputation, but found no evidence of widespread bullying or misogyny at Sentebale.

“Sentebale’s problems played out in the public eye, meaning that a damaging dispute could damage the charity’s reputation, risk overshadowing the charity’s many achievements and jeopardize the charity’s assets for the beneficiaries it was created to serve,” committee CEO David Holdsworth said in a statement in August 2025.

Harry’s spokesman had criticized the committee’s report, while Chandauka welcomed it.

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