The teacher who accused Prince Harry of cheating, and claimed she ghost-wrote his A-level course work, has been awarded £45,000 in damages.
Last July, Sarah Forsyth, a former art teacher at Eton College, won her case for unfair dismissal against the school, during which she said she had written the text to accompany the paintings the prince submitted for his A-level art project.
The employment tribunal investigating the claims found no evidence of cheating, but it accepted the prince had received help in preparing his A-level "expressive" project, which he needed to pass to secure his place at Sandhurst.
An exam board later cleared Harry of cheating, but the scandal tarnished the reputation of the so-called party prince, and threw into doubt the integrity of one of the country's oldest and most venerable schools, whose management was described by the tribunal as prejudicial, unprofessional and high-handed in its treatment of Ms Forsyth.
Yesterday, the 565-year-old college released a statement, announcing the parties had reached an agreement and "proceedings between them are now concluded". "Given that the college had successfully defended at tribunal her more extreme allegations, we felt it was sensible to bring this matter to a close in relation to the remaining unfair dismissal element of her claim," it stated.
Ms Forsyth was employed by Eton on a five-year contract beginning September 2000, with a two-year probationary period. She was sacked at the end of 2002. As the reason for her sacking, the school said Ms Forsyth was not cut out for teaching older boys "in the Eton context".
During the ensuing unfair dismissal hearing, Ms Forsyth claimed she was bullied by staff, and that she was a victim of sexual discrimination. She also said she was asked by the college's head of art, Ian Burke, to help Harry with the written submission to accompany his artworks. She claimed she had a tape of a conversation between herself and the prince which backed her claim.
In its judgment which criticised the school's senior management, the tribunal said: "It is clear whichever version of the evidence is accepted that Mr Burke did ask the claimant to assist Prince Harry with text for his expressive art project ... It is not part of this tribunal's function to determine whether or not it was legitimate."
Yesterday, Ms Forsyth's lawyer, Anthony Sakrouge of Russell-Cooke, said his client was "content that the settlement that has been agreed reflects the fact that she was unfairly treated".
In his 21st birthday message to the country in September, Harry commented on the accusations: "Maybe it's just part of who I am. I have to deal with it. There's lots of things people get accused of. Unfortunately mine are made public."