You’ve got to feel sorry for Prince Harry. After some of the best headlines he’s had in years during his well-received return to Britain last month, that goodwill has swiftly been dismantled under a blizzard of bad publicity. There was the accusation that he or someone around him leaked sensitive information about his brief meeting with his father to the papers. And now the revelation that one of the charities he’s closely linked to, African Parks, has been described as no longer fit for purpose. Or, to be exact, ‘indelicate and disrespectful’.
The calamitous and scandalous collapse of Sentebale earlier this year has now been followed by this less dramatic but equally humiliating withdrawal
The hoo-ha has arisen because it has been reported that the charity, which was founded in 2000 to look after protected parks throughout the continent, has been dropped as a partner by Chad’s government, on the grounds that it has displayed what its environment minister calls a ‘recurring, indelicate and disrespectful attitude towards the government’ and has been acting less in Chad’s interests and more in its own.
A jaw-dropping document has been released that accuses the charity of all kinds of malfeasance, including pocketing revenues from tourism, which it prioritised over conservation activities, and even transferring money overseas, ‘to the detriment of Chad and in flagrant violation of national banking and tax regulations’.
African Parks issued a bland statement suggesting that they were ‘listening and learning’ from Chad’s criticisms, but the damage has been very much done. And while there have been many international luminaries involved with the charity, including the philanthropists Howard Buffett – son of Warren – and the billionaire Bill Ackman, it has been Prince Harry who has been front and centre of African Parks for several years. He served as the organisation’s president from 2017 until 2023, and has since been on its board of directors. While, naturally, there is no suggestion that the Duke of Sussex has had any direct or personal involvement in any of the failings the charity has been accused of, it contributes to a growing and persistent sense that he is less an asset to these organisations and more an Ancient Mariner, bringing disaster wherever he goes.
In Spare, Harry details the arguments that he and William had over their involvement in various African charities, and in particular their different attitudes towards conservation. William favoured community-led schemes whereas Harry thought that top-down intervention was more effective. The impression given by the duke, who at that stage was also responsible for the Sentebale charity, is that he was the one truly carrying on their mother’s work in the continent, and that he was the man who really cared about his work.
However, 2025 has seen all that fall apart. The calamitous and scandalous collapse of Sentebale earlier this year, when Harry was accused and then cleared of ‘bullying and harassment at scale’, has now been followed by this less dramatic but equally humiliating withdrawal, all of which might leave the duke wondering what, exactly, is the point of his continued involvement with these organisations.
Well might he ask. Although it is possible to suggest that his high media profile, and indeed willingness to go above and beyond for charitable activities when the mood takes him, are positive attributes, we also live in an age when African countries and organisations are understandably wary of the idea of the white saviour, cheerily appearing from America or Europe and suggesting that they, and only they, have the savvy to sort out problems that have persisted for generations.
Harry is far from a malicious man – except perhaps where his family are concerned – but he is a thoughtless and arrogant one, as we have seen time and time again. The latest humiliation that he and his charities face is a reminder that blundering in amateurishly can cause trouble. A dose of humility, and good judgement, would be extremely welcome in the future.
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