Harry's teacher in payoff dispute
LONDON, England -- A sacked Eton College art teacher demanded a bigger pay-off from the headmaster as she revealed allegations that Prince Harry had been given "improper assistance" with AS-Level coursework, a tribunal has heard.
Sarah Forsyth, 30, told Eton headmaster Anthony Little her head of department Ian Burke had helped the prince with his coursework journal only after she had been told that her contract was not being renewed.
She made her claim, which both the prince and the school have denied, in a letter to Little in June 2003 in which she also branded a £10,000 payment as derisory.
But Forsyth denied at an employment tribunal in Reading, Berkshire, on Tuesday that she had made the allegation simply to "obtain a few grand from the school."
"This wasn't a demand for money, I didn't demand money from the school but I didn't think that their offer of £10,000 was the way I wanted it dealt with."
In his statement to the tribunal, Little made clear that Forsyth had been offered an ex-gratia payment, although he did not state how much.
The disclosure came the day after she claimed that the prince's former teachers at the elite public school, which charges more than £22,000 a year ($41,000), helped him to cheat at his A-level art exam because he was such a weak student.
She said Monday that Burke finished boys' painting work for them while chatting about "his pet subjects," betting or football.
Forsyth, who is fighting unfair dismissal, told the panel that Harry, who has just begun officer training at Sandhurst, was considered a "weak" student by teachers.
Forsyth, who worked at Eton until summer 2003, when her contract was not renewed, claims she wrote the text to an AS-Level art coursework journal handed in by the prince the previous year. His application to join the army was dependent on his passing the exam.
In a statement to the tribunal, she also said Burke painted students' work without them being present -- something she said he made no attempt to disguise.
In her statement to the tribunalForsyth said Burke also finished Harry's work that later featured in newspapers. Burke strongly denies finishing pupils' work.
"This is a misrepresentation of a friendly atmosphere in which boys discuss their interest," Burke said in a statement to the tribunal on Monday.
"I do not only speak to boys about betting and football. The suggestion that I finished these two pupils' work is completely untrue."
Forsyth, who is claiming unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, said Burke was moody and temperamental, shouting at her in front of boys and making unfair criticism.
Facing dismissal from the school, she secretly recorded a conversation with the prince on his way to his A-Level art examination in which she claims Harry confirmed that he had written "about a sentence" of the text to his "expressive project."
Forsyth also told the tribunal that she wrote virtually all the accompanying text for an art project submitted to external examiners by the prince, now 20.
She considered this to be "unethical and probably constituted to cheating," Forsyth said in a statement.
When the case began in October last year -- it was later adjourned -- Forsyth alleged she had been ordered by a school administrator to help the young royal pass his art exam.
