Sentebale, the Charity Prince Harry Co-Founded, Is Now Suing Him for Defamation in the High Court
The Lesotho- and Botswana-based charity confirmed Friday that it filed defamation proceedings against Harry and his friend Mark Dyer on March 24, alleging the two engineered a year-long media and cyber-bullying campaign that began the day they resigned as patrons.
Sentebale, the HIV-and-AIDS charity that Prince Harry co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006 in memory of Harry's late mother Diana, announced Friday that it has commenced defamation proceedings in the High Court of England and Wales against Harry and his longtime friend and former Sentebale trustee Mark Dyer.
In a press statement dated 10 April 2026, London, the charity said it filed the claim on 24 March 2026 and is seeking "the court's intervention, protection, and restitution" for what it calls 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."
The charity's statement names Harry and Dyer as "the architects of that adverse media campaign," and describes the alleged conduct as causing "significant viral impact" and triggering "cyber-bullying directed at the charity and its leadership."
A 25-March fight
Both the filing date and the alleged start of the media campaign trace back to the same flashpoint. Harry and Prince Seeiso publicly resigned as patrons on 25 March 2025, the day several trustees also quit. In a joint statement at the time, the former patrons said the relationship between the board and its chair, Sophie Chandauka, had "broken down beyond repair" and that stepping down was the only remaining option.
Chandauka subsequently accused Harry of orchestrating a bullying and harassment campaign to force her out. The UK Charity Commission opened a compliance case. On 6 August 2025, the Commission concluded that case, confirmed the validly appointed trustees were in place, and issued a governance Action Plan — but explicitly stated it had not investigated the individual bullying and harassment allegations, on the grounds that such inquiries fall outside its jurisdiction.
That left the accusations legally untested until now.
"No charitable funds"
Anticipating the obvious question about why a charity serving vulnerable youth is pursuing a high-profile libel suit, Sentebale's Friday statement says the legal costs "are met entirely by external funding and no charitable funds have been used." It adds that the charity's development-sector donors have "maintained 100% of their financial commitment" through the dispute and that Sentebale continues to serve approximately 78,000 young people in Lesotho and Botswana.
Harry's response
A statement issued by the Duke of Sussex's office, reported in matching form across multiple UK outlets Friday, says Harry and Dyer "categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims." The statement questions whether "charitable funds are now being used to pursue legal action against the very people who built and supported the organisation for nearly two decades" — a challenge directly contradicted by the line in Sentebale's own press release about external funding of the legal costs.
The case is filed in the King's Bench Division of the High Court of England and Wales. Defamation proceedings under English law require the claimant to show the words complained of caused serious harm to reputation; for a body-corporate claimant like a charity, "serious harm" must mean serious financial loss or a real likelihood of it. Sentebale has not publicly disclosed the specific statements it alleges were defamatory or the claim number.