Sentebale is suing its co-founder Prince Harry after accusing him of being behind “a coordinated adverse media campaign” against the charity.
On Friday, the charity founded in 2006 by Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, announced in a statement that it had brought legal proceedings against the prince and its former trustee Mark Dyer.
The charity, which works with children and young people in southern Africa, is seeking the High Court’s intervention “following a coordinated adverse media campaign” since Harry and Seeiso quit as patrons of the charity on 25 March last year.
Sentebale said Harry and Dyer were “the architects” of the media campaign, which has had “significant viral impact and triggered an onslaught of cyberbullying” directed at the charity and its leadership.
Harry and Seeiso left Sentebale last year in solidarity with its former trustees, who had resigned due to an internal dispute with chair Sophie Chandauka.
The Charity Commission then opened a compliance case into the charity, which concluded with the regulator criticising “all parties to the dispute for allowing it to play out publicly”.
Harry’s spokesperson criticised the regulator’s report in October, telling the Independent that “the consequences of the current chair’s actions won’t be borne by her but by the children who rely on Sentebale’s support”.
In its statement on Friday, Sentebale’s board and executive director said there had been “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”.
‘Legal action is necessary’
Sentebale said it “shouldn’t 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,” it said.
“The costs of doing so are met entirely by external funding and no charitable funds have been used.
“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.”
A spokesperson for Harry and Dyer told the Guardian: “As Sentebale’s co-founder and a founding trustee, they categorically reject these offensive and damaging claims.
“It’s 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.”
