Former teachers of Prince Harry at the elite British boarding school Eton College helped him cheat in his graduation art course because he was such a weak student, a tribunal was told on Monday.
One teacher allegedly prepared explanatory text to go with images produced by Harry while a second helped the prince insert the lines into a project.
The head of art at Eton also allegedly completed work for Harry which was later published in newspapers around the world.
As the prince began army officer training at Sandhurst on Monday, one of his former teachers, Sarah Forsyth, was claiming that his art exam result, which helped him get to the elite college, was flawed.
Prepared work
Forsyth told an employment tribunal, where she is claiming unfair dismissal, that the evening before a moderator was due at the school to look at the students' course work, which counts towards their final grade, she was asked by the head of art, Ian Burke, to prepare text to go with some of Harry's work for his Expressive Project, in which a pupil is required to explain some of his work and relate it to that of great artists.
Forsyth said she was "profoundly shocked," adding: "I was concerned that this was unethical and probably constituted cheating."
`Weak student'
She told the tribunal at Reading in southern England: "I assumed I had been asked to do this because Prince Harry was a weak student."
Forsyth, 30, said Harry's failings as a student were well known at Eton and she had been told that a teacher who marked Harry's entrance exam had been "desperate" to find points for which he could award marks.
She claims she was too frightened to disobey Burke and did what was asked of her. Later she allegedly saw the prince sitting beside Burke apparently deciding which of her lines should go where. Forsyth claims the prince thanked her for her help.
The former teacher claimed Burke would occasionally help boys complete work while they chatted to him about football and betting, his "pet subjects."
In a witness statement put before the tribunal, Forsyth claimed Burke finished off work for Harry which "featured in the newspapers."
She did not specify in the statement which pictures she was referring to, but in June 2003 a photograph of Harry with two of his screen prints inspired by Aboriginal designs and colors was released to the media.
Eton told reporters that this was part of his course work, but the college said it did not know if these were the images Forsyth referred to in her statement.
`Bullying' the witness
Forsyth had arrived at Eton in September 2000 with an excellent academic record but no formal teaching qualifications. She claims her job went well until Burke's arrival at Eton. She alleges he bullied her.
Under cross-examination she claimed she was dismissed partly because Burke wanted to give his girlfriend her ?28,000 (US$52,600) job and partly because of the "Harry mess." The school insists she was sacked because her teaching was not up to scratch.
Forsyth also claimed she secretly taped a conversation in which the prince confirmed he had written "about a sentence" of the disputed text.
Prince Harry and Eton strongly deny he was guilty of cheating. Burke denies finishing pupils' work.
The hearing continues.
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