Former Teacher Claims Prince Harry Received Help to Cheat in Exams
A former teacher at Eton College has alleged that Prince Harry received assistance in his A-level art coursework due to his academic struggles, a tribunal heard yesterday.
Sarah Forsyth, who taught at the prestigious school, claimed that staff helped the prince complete his coursework, with one teacher even preparing explanatory text to accompany his artwork.
Another allegedly assisted in inserting these explanations into his project.
According to Ms. Forsyth, the head of Eton’s art department, Ian Burke, also contributed to Harry’s work, some of which was later featured in newspapers worldwide.
She asserted that Harry’s art exam result, which helped secure his place at Sandhurst military academy, was not entirely his own.
Testifying at an employment tribunal where she was pursuing an unfair dismissal claim, Ms. Forsyth stated that on the eve of an assessment review, Mr. Burke instructed her to draft supporting text for Harry’s Expressive Project.
This project required students to explain their artwork and relate it to the work of established artists.
“I was profoundly shocked,” she told the tribunal in Reading, Berkshire.
“I was concerned that this was unethical and probably constituted cheating.”
Ms. Forsyth said she believed she had been asked to do this because Prince Harry was a “weak student” and that it was widely known among staff that his academic abilities were lacking.
She also claimed a teacher who had graded Harry’s entrance exam had struggled to find enough points to award him a passing score.
Fearful of defying her superior, she said she complied with Mr. Burke’s request.
She later observed Harry and Mr. Burke reviewing the text she had written, with the prince selecting which lines to use.
According to her, Harry even thanked her for her assistance.
Ms. Forsyth further alleged that Mr. Burke occasionally completed students’ work while casually discussing topics such as football and betting—his apparent favorite subjects.
She also claimed that he had finished some of Harry’s artwork that was later circulated in the media.
While her statement did not specify which pieces were allegedly altered, a 2003 photograph showed Harry posing with screen prints inspired by Aboriginal designs—works that Eton confirmed were part of his A-level coursework.
However, the school could not confirm whether these were the images in question.
Ms. Forsyth, who joined Eton in 2000 with a strong academic background but no formal teaching qualifications, said her tenure at the school was uneventful until Mr. Burke’s arrival.
She accused him of bullying her and suggested she was dismissed partly because he wanted to replace her with his girlfriend and partly due to what she called the “Harry mess.”
Eton College refuted her allegations, stating she was let go because her teaching performance was unsatisfactory.
In her tribunal testimony, Ms. Forsyth also claimed to have secretly recorded a conversation in which Prince Harry admitted to writing only “about a sentence” of the disputed coursework text.
Both Eton College and Prince Harry have strongly denied any wrongdoing, and Mr. Burke has rejected claims that he completed students’ work.
