In a move that comes amid ongoing fallout over confirmed human rights violations by park rangers employed by a leading African conservation organization, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, has stepped down from the board of African Parks, a charity he has been affiliated with for a decade. A spokesperson for the duke confirmed the exit Friday, noting that after six years serving as the charity’s president, Prince Harry joined the board of directors in 2023, and while he is leaving his formal governance role, he will continue to back the organization’s core conservation mission.
The resignation comes barely a week after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced plans to relocate their family — which includes their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet — from their long-time home in California back to the United Kingdom, where their children are set to begin school in early September. The timing has placed both the charity controversy and the Sussexes’ new chapter firmly in the global spotlight.
The controversy surrounding African Parks erupted last year, when the organization publicly acknowledged that its rangers operating in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) had committed severe human rights abuses against local Indigenous communities. An independent investigation launched following the allegations confirmed multiple reports of violence, including beatings, sexual assault, and torture carried out by guards employed and managed by the charity. In 2025, African Parks announced it had overhauled its internal safeguarding protocols both at the Congolese park and across all its operations, as part of broader organizational reforms.
As part of what African Parks framed as a “governance refresh” of its board, the organization issued a statement thanking Prince Harry for his ten years of involvement. The charity acknowledged that Prince Harry had been instrumental in drawing global attention to the urgent crisis of biodiversity loss across the African continent, highlighting his work to advance conservation philanthropy that benefits both local communities and wildlife. “The duke remains deeply committed to this cause, and remains a strong supporter of African Parks’ work,” the statement read.
Prince Harry’s connection to African Parks runs deeper than board service: the organization’s website records his role as part of the expert team that delivered the first phase of the landmark 500 Elephants project, one of the largest elephant translocation initiatives in modern conservation history. The project moved hundreds of elephants from overcrowded, poaching-prone habitats in Malawi to protected areas where elephant populations had been decimated by decades of illegal hunting. Prince Harry previously described participating in the translocation as an “amazing” experience, and he was photographed attending an anti-poaching demonstration in Malawi back in 2019. In his own statement released through his spokesperson, Prince Harry said he was “proud of his 10 years with African Parks” and fully supports the charity’s ongoing work to strengthen its governance and operations. “His commitment to conservation in Africa continues, and he remains a supporter of African Parks’ mission,” the spokesperson added.
African Parks currently manages roughly 20 national parks and protected areas across 12 sub-Saharan African countries, making it one of the largest non-profit conservation organizations operating on the continent.
The Sussexes’ impending relocation to the UK has already sparked widespread discussion about the couple’s future, particularly around unresolved questions of security arrangements. Last year, Prince Harry lost a high-profile legal challenge against the UK Home Office over the level of publicly funded police protection he and his family are entitled to when staying in the UK. No final details have been confirmed about what security provisions will be put in place for the family following their move, and the couple’s broader long-term plans for their time in the UK also remain unannounced.
UK public broadcaster the BBC has also reported that the Duchess of Sussex is currently in talks to return to her former acting career, with a potential role in the popular Netflix series *The Gentlemen*. If confirmed, the role would mark her first major acting credit since her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.
This upcoming relocation marks a major shift for the couple, who stepped back from full-time senior royal duties in early 2020 before permanently settling in California that same March. A spokesperson for the couple has confirmed that their official status as non-working members of the royal family will not change following the move, and they will remain private individuals.