A charity co-founded by Prince Harry in honour of his late mother Princess Diana is suing the British royal for libel at the High Court in London, a court record showed on Friday. Sentebale lodged a defamation claim last month against Harry and one of his close friends Mark Dyer, who was also a trustee of the charity.
Harry, the younger son of King Charles, co-founded Sentebale in 2006 to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana but resigned as a patron in March 2025 after a public falling-out with its chair of the board, Dr. Sophie Chandauka. The charity’s co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho and the board of trustees joined Harry in leaving Sentebale, which he helped set up nine years after Diana was killed in a Paris car crash and which means “forget-me-not” in the local language of Lesotho in southern Africa.
According to a record made public on Friday, Sentebale filed the defamation claim against Harry at the High Court in London on March 24. Page Six confirmed that the charity also sued Mark Dyer, who served as a trustee before Harry and Dr. Sophie Chandauka’s falling out. There were no details as to what the lawsuit involved. Neither Harry’s spokesperson nor the charity immediately responded to a request for comment.
The 41-year-old prince called the breakdown in the relationship with Chandauka devastating, while she reported him and the trustees to Britain’s charity regulator for alleged bullying and harassment. After a review, the Charity Commission reported it had found no evidence of bullying, but said there had been weak governance and criticised all parties for allowing an internal dispute to become public.
In a joint statement when resigning, Harry and Prince Seeiso said: “With heavy hearts, we have resigned from our roles as patrons of the organization until further notice, in support of and solidarity with the board of trustees. It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair.” Dr. Chandauka said she reported the trustees to the UK Charity Commission and had “blown the whistle” about issues including abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism.
Harry set up the charity in 2006 in memory of his mum, Princess Diana, for young people and kids living with HIV and Aids. The charity said in August that it would consider further action in the row after the Charity Commission pointed to “mismanagement” but found no evidence of widespread or systemic bullying or harassment.
The High Court record seen by Reuters shows Harry is a defendant in a defamation claim alongside close friend and previous trustee of the charity Mark Dyer. This is a developing story.
