Prince Harry quietly returned to an important cause after a series of controversies marred a charity close to his heart.
The Duke of Sussex stepped out this week to support the scandal-plagued African Parks Conservation at Scale Event along with Rob Walton, president of the African Parks Foundation of America, Jordan Rose Walton, Phoenix Suns Devin Booker, Khaman Maluach and others in Arizona.
The charity had launched its $1 billion campaign for conservation at scale at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, and Harry came to reinforce the message.
“This five-year effort is designed to ensure and expand effective management of Africa’s most critical protected areas – strengthening our existing portfolio, expanding into new priority landscapes and building long-term conservation capacity across the continent,” Harry said during the event.
“We came together tonight to support a great cause, the African Parks Network with Rob & Jordan Walton, Prince Harry and others, but it reminded me of something bigger: when exceptional people come together with heart, generosity and purpose… incredible things happen.”
Harry, like his estranged brother Prince William, has a close connection to Africa and has been passionate about making a difference in the region.
King Charles’ younger son serves on the board of African Parks, a non-profit charity, and has been involved with it since 2016. Unfortunately, it is also tainted by shocking allegations.
Reports published in 2024 accused African Parks rangers of beating, waterboarding and raping locals to prevent them from accessing their ancestral forests, which are now in a protected area.
Furthermore, at the end of 2025, Chad abruptly severed its 15-year partnership with African Parks and expelled the NGO from its protected reserves in the country.
However, African Parks had issued a lengthy statement acknowledging that “in some incidents human rights violations have occurred and we deeply regret the pain and suffering caused to the victims”.
They noted that they are “embedding security measures across all our operations”.
