The royals are not immune to the cheating bug, it appears:
Prince Harry was secretly taped by his Eton teacher to prove her claims that he was an exam cheat, a tribunal heard today. The hearing listened to the recording of the prince saying he had only done a "tiny, tiny" bit of the coursework for his art A-level.
The disclosure was made at an employment tribunal where teacher Sarah Forsyth, 30, is claiming sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.
The short, poor-quality tape concludes with Harry saying: "It was a tiny, tiny bit. I did about a sentence of it." This was apparently a reference to his contribution to the coursework which was eventually submitted to the exam board and for which he got a grade B. The prince needed two A-levels to get into Sandhurst.
Miss Forsyth taped Harry on 16 May last year just before he took his A-level and she was questioning him about alleged assistance he was given with his coursework a year earlier.
She admitted she was "very unhappy" at making the recording but felt it was the only way she could prove her head of department condoned cheating, the tribunal heard. She also told the tribunal that it had been difficult to get Harry alone to make the recording because "he was usually with his bodyguards". Her actions were bitterly criticised by Nigel Giffen, QC, representing Eton. He said: "It is a pretty extraordinary way for any teacher to behave towards any pupil. It is a gross breach of trust and almost certainly unlawful."
The tribunal heard that shortly after making the tape Miss Forsyth justified her actions in a letter saying "no one was prepared to listen to my complaint".
If I follow the story correctly, Miss Forsyth is claiming that in order to keep her job, she was forced to prepare material that would be submitted as part of Prince Harry's A-level coursework. If true, this is appalling, but then the entire scenario seems appalling, with mud being flung in every direction.
Posted by kswygert at October 14, 2004 12:18 PM