Prince Harry has been hit with a lawsuit by an organization he helped establish over an alleged “adverse media campaign.”
Sentebale, a charity that Harry co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, announced on Friday that it had launched legal proceedings against the Duke of Sussex and his close friend, trustee Mark Dyer.
Court records viewed by Reuters showed that Sentebale was suing Harry for libel at the High Court in London.
The organization accused the 41-year-old prince and Dyer of being the “architects” of a coordinated “adverse media campaign” that it said has caused operational disruption and reputational harm since March 2025.
“Sentebale has experienced the adverse media campaign as false narratives circulated through the media about the charity and its leadership, attempts to undermine its relationships with staff, existing and prospective partners, and the forced diversion of leadership time and resources into managing a reputational crisis not of the charity’s making,” it said in a statement.
“The Board and Executive Director trust that those who believe in Sentebale’s mission will understand why this legal action, whilst difficult, was necessary and important, and will continue to stand with us as we focus on the work ahead,” it added.
Harry co-founded the charity two decades ago to provide support for young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and Botswana. The word “sentebale” means “forget me not” in Sesotho, the language of Lesotho in southern Africa. He was inspired by his mother’s work on AIDS, her trips to Africa, and then by his own time in Africa. After a rocky start it had become a respected charity, and Harry had been its key figure.
However last year, however, the British royal and Prince Seeiso cut ties with Sentebale following a bitter dispute with the chair of its board, Sophie Chandauka, that played out publicly.
“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 who have had to do the same,” the princes said at the time. “It is devastating that the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair, creating an untenable situation.”
Archewell, the organization founded by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Being sued, instead of doing the suing, turns the tables on the prince, who has become a regular at London’s high court as he pursued cases against both the newspaper publishers and the U.K. government itself. He is waiting for the result of his latest multi-million case again the media, in this case the publisher of the Daily Mail, which he accuses of having illegally surveilled him and hacked his voicemail. The publisher vehemently denies his claims, which he brought with celebrities including Elton John. Hearings in the case ended with bombshell direct messages between him and a reporter whom he had claimed not to know being published, showing him discussing his movements and their partying together, while she referred to herself as “g-string.” The judge is now considering his verdict.
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