LONDON, Oct 10 (AFP) - Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne, stands accused of cheating on a finishing exam at the prestigious Eton College, the News of the World tabloid reported Sunday.
One of Harry's former teachers was due to make the allegations Monday before an industrial tribunal, where she would describe being ordered by a school administrator to help the young royal pass an exam, according to Britain's best-selling newspaper.
Sarah Forsyth, the art teacher, has brought a claim against Eton for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, it said.
Britain's royal family immediately denied the claim, releasing a statement saying: "It is not true that Harry cheated in his exams.
"These are unfounded allegations by a disaffected teacher in the context of her dispute with the school," the statement issued by Prince Charles' Clarence House said.
Harry, now 20, has accepted a spot at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, moving to start a career in the military in line with family tradition.
Last month he passed the academy's four-day entrance exam, which put the accent on tests of physical stamina, but only barely scraped by with his secondary school exam results -- a B in art and a D in geography.
Forsyth, the News of the World alleged, said she had given Harry the answers for art coursework which counted toward his final A-level grade.
The tabloid quoted a source at Eton denying her claim, saying "She thinks she is holding all the aces -- she's demanding a huge 100,000-pound (180,000-dollar, 145,000-euro) pay-off, otherwise she will spill the beans."
But it quoted a friend of Harry and his father, the Prince of Wales, saying: "Everyone knows Harry is no Einstein, but he's also no cheat."
Eton, too, denied the cheating claims, with a spokesman deriding them as "absurd".
"They are not just untrue -- the exam board confirmed this -- but are of no relevance to the tribunal case whatsoever," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Edexcel exam board said an allegation had been made and examined, but was found to be "unsubstantiated".
Eton said Forsyth had tried to force the school into a pay-off after her dismissal in 2003, after three years teaching at the school.
Her case against Eton, to be heard in Reading, west of London, is expected to last five days.
Strawberry-blond Harry has spent his "gap year" after Eton doing a mix of travel, humanitarian work and sports coaching. Two months spent in the African kingdom of Lesotho helped, partially, to shed some of his lingering reputation as a disco-hopping party animal.
The News of the World stirred up another Harry controversy in 2002, when it reported that Harry had smoked cannabis in a pub near Charles' home in Gloucestershire, western England.
Harry's elder brother William is a student at Scotland's Saint Andrews University.