Prince Harry Diverts Princess Diana Donations to Elephant Charity with a Special Connection to Meghan Markle and Their Kids

Meredith KileMon, August 17, 2026 at 3:57 PM UTC

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Prince Harry hugs Princess Lilibet and Prince ArchieCredit: Meghan/Instagram -

Prince Harry redirected an annual donation from The Diana Fund to his former Sentebale charity after cutting ties with the organization in 2025

The Duke of Sussex diverted those funds to Elephants Without Borders, a conservation group with longtime ties to Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle

Following the donation, the organization named two elephants after Harry’s children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet

Prince Harry has made a major decision regarding a charity founded in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana.

In 2012, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund — which was established following her death in 1997 — was officially closed, and The Diana Fund was established the following year in order to collect any future legacies and donations made in the late royal’s memory.

The funds went primarily to charities chosen by Harry and his brother, Prince William. When Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from their duties as senior working royals in 2020, it was decided that Harry and William would split the Diana Fund proceeds in half.

Initially, Prince Harry’s half was donated to Sentebale, the HIV/AIDS charity he co-founded in 2006. However, the Duke of Sussex split from the organization in 2025 over a bitter leadership dispute, and in early 2026, it was reported that his relationship with the charity had been “completely extinguished.”

Following the split, the Duke of Sussex diverted his portion of the Diana Fund proceeds to Elephants Without Borders, a conservation group with whom he and Meghan share longtime ties.

Prince Harry marks a young male elephant in Malawi in October 2016Credit: African Parks/Kensington Palace/Instagram

Dr. Mike Chase, founder of the charity, told The Telegraph that receiving Harry’s portion of the fund, which, in 2025, amounted to about $7,369, was a “tremendous honour.”

“The Duke has a very strong passion for the Okavango Delta, Botswana, its people, and its wildlife,” added Dr. Chase, who has worked with Harry on charitable efforts for more than 20 years. “I am deeply grateful that he is supporting us through the Diana Memorial Fund; it means a great deal to us and to the elephants we are working so hard to protect.”

Dr. Chase was one of the first to learn of Harry and Meghan’s budding relationship back in 2017, when the prince took his future wife to Botswana to help tag elephants with EWB.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tagging elephants in Botswana in 2017

The connection continued throughout the couple’s marriage. In 2020, Meghan narrated a Disney documentary called Elephant, and donated her fee to Elephants Without Borders.

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Now, the couple is sharing their love for the organization with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5. Thanks to Harry’s donation, EWB was able to fit satellite-tracking collars to two “magnificent” elephants in the Okavango Delta, which they named Archie and Lili.

Harry and Meghan’s children even chose the color of their elephants’ collars, which will help the organization track them across the plains of northern Botswana. Archie picked blue, while Lilibet went with purple.

“We wanted to pass on that legacy to the kids, in the hope that [Harry’s] passion for Okavango and Botswana would rub off on them, and to allow them to monitor the elephants in real time across the world,” Dr. Chase told The Telegraph.

The donation is the latest connection Prince Harry has forged between his children and their late grandmother, who died decades before she could get to know them. During their recent family trip to the U.K., Harry and Meghan took Archie and Lilibet to visit Diana’s childhood home, Althorp, where she is buried.

The family’s time at the estate is thought to have included a visit to Diana’s burial site. One of Meghan’s photos shows Lilibet, Archie and Harry walking through the grounds of the estate, with the Duke of Sussex and his son carrying flowers.

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Prince Harry also recently opened up about how his family celebrates his mother’s memory. During a Q&A session at Scotty’s Summer Festival at Maxstoke Castle in Warwickshire, part of his solo appearances during the family’s time in the U.K., the prince was asked if he does anything special to commemorate the anniversary of his mother’s death, Aug. 31, or her birthday, July 1.

“Yes, we do lemon drizzle cake,” Harry answered. “I think traditions are really, really important. Especially when they’re sweet.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”