Donald Trump’s USAID cuts look set to hit close to home for as the charity he created in ‘s honor has received funding in the past in the very country the U.S. president took a swipe at this week.

Trump said America was giving “8 million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.”

However, the nation is very close to Prince Harry’s heart after he joined forces with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to create Sentebale, a charity that helps children with HIV and AIDS in southern Africa. Its name means “forget me not,” which was Princess Diana’s favorite flower, and was created to further her legacy.

Why It Matters

There is no suggestion that the $8 million Trump referenced was destined for Sentebale. However, there is no telling how the ripple effects of the president’s seismic overhaul of aid might affect the organization indirectly.

And any cuts impacting AIDS and HIV work in Africa will likely be of huge concern for Harry, testing to the limit his recent policy of not picking fights with Trump.

Prince Harry’s Sentebale and USAID

The charity helped deliver the five-year Karabo Ea Bophelo (KB) Programme in Lesotho, starting in 2020, which set out to support 25,000 vulnerable children and orphans, preventing HIV.

The U.S. Foreign Assistance website describes $51.4 million being given to the project over five years ending in January 2025, listing the partner as the Baylor College of Medicine. It is possible that Sentebale was not the only recipient.

Sentebale’s 2020 annual report read: “Institutional funding has been vital over the last year to ensure continued strong programme delivery.

“In Lesotho, we started the new 5-year USAID funded programme called Karabo Ea Bophelo (KB), targeting orphans, vulnerable children and adolescent girls.”

Sentebale also delivered another project, Dreams, in Botswana, funded by PEPFAR, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Its most recent annual report for 2022-23 read: “We continued to have world class institutional partnerships, joining together with the likes of the Global Fund, USAID/ PEPFAR and UNICEF to deliver high-quality programmes.

“These partnerships bring a vital additional resource but are also a stamp of external recognition and approval for our work.”

Ketlogetswe Montshiwa, Sentebale’s Botswana country director, wrote in the report: “Our DREAMS project in partnership with PEPFAR (US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) aims to reduce HIV infection amongst adolescent girls and young women aged 20 to 24.

“1,200 girls and young women were enrolled in the programme and were provided with safe spaces to access a range of health services.”

Funding for Sentebale’s USAID-linked work in Lesotho and Botswana may have already been received—and potentially already spent—in previous years.

Sentebale was not the only one of Prince Harry’s organizations to receive USAID.

African Parks and USAID

The Duke of Sussex is also a board member at conservation NGO African Parks, which says on its website: “With a commitment of US$27million over the last 8 years (2016-2024), USAID has been providing support to African Parks to improve protected area management and wildlife conservation in the Garamba Complex and the Chinko Conservation Area within the Mbomou-Uele border region, straddling the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR), and to promote sustainable livelihoods among households dwelling inside and on the periphery of these protected areas.”

What Happens Next

It is unclear whether any of Harry’s charities will directly lose funding from USAID that has already been allocated but not given.

Either way, the sector as a whole may well find organizations have to compete harder for fewer funding opportunities.

Williams Brown is chief royal correspondent for Regalrumination.com, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly , at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com’s .

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