A charity co-founded by the Duke of Sussex is suing him for defamation.

A spokesman for Sentebale, which supports young people in southern Africa, says the court action is because of an alleged “adverse media campaign” which they claim has caused disruption and “reputational harm” to the charity and its leadership.

A spokesman for Prince Harry and another former trustee of the charity, Mark Dyer, who is also being sued, said: “They categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims.”

In an acrimonious dispute over how the charity was being managed, Prince Harry left Sentebale last year.

The court filing shows Prince Harry as a defendant alongside another former trustee, Mark Dyer, in a claim listed on 24 March as “defamation – libel and slander”.

A statement on behalf of the charity’s trustees and executive director said the court case seeks the court’s “intervention, protection, and restitution” against what it claims are co-ordinated media attacks, which it says undermine the charity and its efforts to help young people.

Legal costs for the case are being met “entirely by external funding and no charitable funds have been used”, say the charity’s current trustees.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Mark Dyer said the charity should be focusing its efforts on the communities supported by Sentebale, rather than pursuing legal actions.

Prince Harry and his fellow founder Prince Seeiso left the charity in March 2025 along with a group of trustees, in a bitter boardroom dispute with the charity’s chair, Sophie Chandauka.

There were reports that arguments over financial problems and disagreements about fundraising had inflamed the divisions within the charity.

Both sides had traded accusations about poor behaviour and there was an investigation by the Charity Commission.

The watchdog concluded in August 2025 that there was blame on all sides and criticised the way the dispute had played out so publicly, in a way that harmed the charity.

“Sentebale’s problems played out in the public eye, enabling a damaging dispute to harm the charity’s reputation, risk overshadowing its many achievements, and jeopardising the charity’s ability to deliver for the very beneficiaries it was created to serve,” said Charity Commission chief executive David Holdsworth.

Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, to help young people in Botswana and Lesotho, particularly those living with HIV and Aids.

Prince Harry had given Sentebale an extra donation of £1.2m from the profits from his memoir Spare and he described leaving the charity as “devastating”.

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.