Prince Harry is facing legal action from Sentebale, marking the latest development in a deepening dispute surrounding the organisation he helped establish.
The charity has filed defamation claims at London’s High Court, naming Prince Harry and former Sentebale trustee Mark Dyer as defendants.
The legal move follows an escalating public dispute between the duke and the charity’s chair, Dr Sophie Chandauka, which intensified after his resignation as patron last year.
Sentebale supports children and young people across southern Africa. Prince Harry co-founded the organisation alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
Both stepped down in March 2025, with trustees subsequently resigning amid disagreements with Chandauka, who was appointed in 2023.
In a statement, Sentebale said it had initiated proceedings 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 added: “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 cyberbullying directed at the charity and its leadership.”
“Sentebale has experienced the adverse media campaign as false narratives circulated through the media about the charity and its leadership.”
“It also cited attempts to undermine its relationships with staff and partners, along with the forced diversion of leadership time and resources into managing a reputational crisis not of the charity’s making.”
“The charity should not continue to use its resources to manage and address the damage this adverse media campaign has caused to its operations and partnerships. This must stop.”
“The board and executive director have taken this legal action to secure that protection. The costs of doing so are met entirely by external funding and no charitable funds have been used.”
According to HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the claim was filed on 24 March, although further details have not been disclosed.
A spokesperson representing Prince Harry and Mark Dyer said: “As Sentebale’s co-founder and a founding trustee, they categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims.”
“It is extraordinary that charitable funds are now being used to pursue legal action against the very people who built and supported the organisation for nearly two decades, rather than being directed to the communities the charity was created to serve.”
In August 2025, the Charity Commission criticised the duke for allowing a dispute with the chair to “play out publicly”, while clearing him of allegations of racism.
Following his resignation, Chandauka said she had been targeted by individuals who “play the victim card”.
She described the conflict as a “story of a woman who dared to blow the whistle about issues of poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir [discrimination against black women] – and the cover-up that ensued”.
In its compliance ruling, the regulator criticised all parties involved for “allowing it to play out publicly”, adding that the trustees’ failure to resolve internal disagreements had “severely impacted the charity’s reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally”.
The commission also found that the dispute between Chandauka and Prince Harry followed the development of a new US-based fundraising strategy.
Responding at the time, a spokesperson for Prince Harry — who founded Sentebale in memory of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales — criticised the regulator’s findings, saying the report had fallen “troublingly short”.
They said: “Unsurprisingly, the commission makes no findings of wrongdoing in relation to Sentebale’s co-founder and former patron, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
“They also found no evidence of widespread bullying, harassment or misogyny and misogynoir at the charity, as falsely claimed by the current chair.
“Despite all that, their report falls troublingly short in many regards, primarily the fact that the consequences of the current chair’s actions will not be borne by her – but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support.
“Sentebale has been a deeply personal and transformative mission for Prince Harry, established to serve some of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana.”
