Prince Harry \u201ccategorically\u201d rejected the defamation claim, a spokesperson said Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Sentebale\u2019s 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.\u201d <\/p>\n
The case type is described as \u201cMedia and Communication – Part 7 Claim – Defamation – libel and slander\u201d. Sentebale filed it on March 24.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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 cyber-bullying directed at the charity and its leadership,\u201d Sentebale added.<\/p>\n
In August 2025, the UK\u2019s Charity Commission pointed to \u201cmismanagement\u201d at the charity.<\/p>\n
But it found no evidence of \u201cbullying\u201d – a charge that the organisation\u2019s chairwoman, Sophie Chandauka levelled at Harry in March 2025.<\/p>\n
The charity was launched to help young people with HIV and Aids in Lesotho and later Botswana.<\/p>\n
Harry – the youngest son of Britain\u2019s King Charles III – and co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho announced last year they were resigning from the charity, after the trustees quit.<\/p>\n
The trustees walked out when Chandauka refused their demand to step down.<\/p>\n
Dr Sophie Chandauka is the voluntary chair of Sentebale. Photo \/ Getty Images <\/p>\n
Bitter dispute<\/p>\n
After an inquiry, the Charity Commission said it had \u201cfound no evidence of widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir [prejudice against black women] at the charity\u201d.<\/p>\n
But it \u201ccriticised all parties to the dispute for allowing it to play out publicly\u201d, saying the \u201cdamaging internal dispute\u201d had \u201cseverely impacted the charity\u2019s reputation\u201d.<\/p>\n
It found there was \u201ca lack of clarity in delegations\u201d, which led to \u201cmismanagement in the administration of the charity\u201d and issued the organisation with a plan to \u201caddress governance weaknesses\u201d.<\/p>\n
Chandauka, who was appointed to the voluntary post in 2023, said she \u201cappreciated\u201d the Charity Commission\u2019s conclusions.<\/p>\n
She added that the findings \u201cconfirm the governance concerns I raised privately in February 2025\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to British media after accusing the prince of trying to force her out, Chandauka criticised Harry for his decision to bring a Netflix camera crew to a fundraiser in 2024.<\/p>\n
She also objected to an unplanned appearance by his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the event.<\/p>\n
The accusations were a fresh blow for the prince, who kept only a handful of his private patronages, including with Sentebale, after splitting with the British royal family in 2020.<\/p>\n
He left Britain to live in North America with his wife and children.<\/p>\n
Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when the prince was just 12.<\/p>\n
It means \u201cforget me not\u201d in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
The court filing comes less than a fortnight after Harry\u2019s case against a UK tabloid publisher wrapped up in the High Court.<\/p>\n
The proceedings against the publisher of the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, are the third case brought by the Duke of Sussex in his acrimonious legal battle with the British press.<\/p>\n
Harry and six other claimants accuse the publisher of spying on them, including placing listening devices in cars and homes. Associated Newspapers has strongly denied the accusations.<\/p>\n
– Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry \u201ccategorically\u201d rejected the defamation claim, a spokesperson said Friday. \u201cAs Sentebale\u2019s co-founder and a founding trustee,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1443,10466,74,9092,29217,1554,29688,56880,3595,1977,188804,13731,156,23540,11521,9859,692,1743,6712,1044,111,139,69,1523,4940,34748,195016,312,194895,22193],"class_list":{"0":"post-373727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-african","10":"tag-after","11":"tag-against","12":"tag-aids","13":"tag-alleged","14":"tag-bitter","15":"tag-britains","16":"tag-by","17":"tag-charity","18":"tag-cofounded","19":"tag-dispute","20":"tag-entertainment","21":"tag-founded","22":"tag-harm","23":"tag-harry","24":"tag-he","25":"tag-launched","26":"tag-legal","27":"tag-management","28":"tag-new-zealand","29":"tag-newzealand","30":"tag-nz","31":"tag-over","32":"tag-prince","33":"tag-proceedings","34":"tag-reputational","35":"tag-says","36":"tag-sentebale","37":"tag-sued"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}