Prince Harry has come under fire after telling firms they should ‘give everyone time to focus on themselves’ during his first appearance of the year plugging his employer, mental health startup BetterUp.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, appeared as part of a virtual panel alongside BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux, pal Serena Williams and his wife, Meghan Markle.
‘From an employer perspective, you can’t expect your people to put in the work on themselves when you’re not giving them the time to do that,’ Harry said as he went on to explain how he had suffered ‘burn out’ before waxing lyrical about the importance of ‘taking time for inner work’.
But his advice appeared to fall well short of the mark judging by a number of comments on social media.
‘Eh! What the hell is he talking about ? He’s never done a hard day’s work in his life,’ stated one Twitter user named Tanner.
Prince Harry, 38, dished out business advice as he spoke of importance of employers giving staff ‘time to focus on themselves’
The message appeared to fall short with some users on social media who responded with scathing criticism of the Prince’s woke message
‘It’s always me-me time with Prince Harry. Real people have to work for a living…’ wrote Richard James.
‘Sorry, just don’t take him seriously any more,’ wrote one user.
‘I know he’s qualified to talk about being mentally unstable because that’s all he does but what does he know about having a job or balance between the two. Exploiting him is not kind,’ said another.
‘OMG is this a sick joke?.…..Haz doesn’t actually know what the word work means!’ wrote Carrol McDonald.
‘This is a man who has more troubles than those he thinks he has. He needs professional help not being put on a platform & showcased as if he’s in recovery,’ said Tessa Cate.
‘It’s really difficult to take mental health advice from a 40 year old who in the middle of a pandemic was complaining on Oprah that he only had his mom’s millions to rely on because dad cut him off. This is all during people losing their livelihoods,’ explained another Twitter poster.
Prince Harry spoke of ‘experiencing burn out’ as he made his first appearance of the year at a virtual summit for his employer, mental health startup BetterUp alongside Serena Williams
‘When he has punched a clock with np flexible work schedule, sat in the same grey office day in and day out pushing papers, so the execs get more money for 25 years, then he’d be worthy of my attention. Until then, you giving him millions for this is insulting,’ wrote Diana Rodzim.
‘Geeeezus this is getting so ridiculous,’ surmised another user on social media.
Speaking about mental health, Prince Harry explained to those watching the online broadcast: ‘It has to start from yourself, this idea you can find mental fitness from other people.
‘As a team you can encourage each other, but it starts at home and it starts internal. The effect that has for yourself and the people around you – [as a business leader] to say, you know what, everyone is going to have today to focus on themselves.
‘As I said at the beginning, everyone has such busy days, if you have 15 minutes of white space…I allot half an hour or 45 minutes in the morning when one kid has gone to school and the other is having a nap, there’s a break in our program.
‘It’s like, right, it’s either a workout, take the dog for a walk, get out in nature, maybe meditate.’
He said that ‘as a father, husband and someone starting a business’, he ‘knows he needs to meditate every day.’
The Duke continued: ‘I hope everybody is available to do that but…once you have to show up for other people, the self care is the first thing to drop away.
‘As someone starting up a business, as a husband, as a dad – you just don’t have the time to do that.
‘Mental fitness is the pinnacle, it’s what you’re aiming for. The road towards that can be really bumpy… it’s called inner ‘work’ for a reason.
‘The outer work begins so much easier when the inner work falls into place.’
Although the Prince’s message appeared to resonate with many on social media there were many for whom it carried little weight
Yet despite the Duke’s sincerity, his advice didn’t cut it with many watching.
‘It’s very difficult for me to take this man seriously or be inspired by him when his actions towards his family for instance have been so utterly lacking in compassion and consideration. Not someone I can, or want to, look to as a role model in any way whatsoever,’ said Gia Gordon.
‘He should take his own advice, start working towards apologizing to his family ! Prince Harry you don’t come across as a nice person! Please stop lecturing people!’ advised one commenter.
‘A lazy bum unable to do any real work tells us what and how things really are in this world. How boring it is. Go away, Harry. The only people who need you are your sekants and journalists, to the rest of the world you’re nothing with a title,’ said another.
‘I recommend everyone watch the Ex-Prince of the Realm make an even bigger fool of himself…..lol The laughter from Buckingham Palace was heard across the Atlantic tonight…..,’ added one user.
‘If harry spent less time DISECTING life and just lived it honestly he might succeed…’ advised Simone Ryan.
One Twitter user, Matthew Kolken from Texas, who claims to be an immigration lawyer appeared to take issue with the Prince’s immigration status in the U.S. tweeting a series of fanatical questions
One Twitter user, Matthew Kolken from Texas, who claims to be an immigration lawyer appeared to take issue with the Prince’s immigration status in the U.S. and questioned how he was able to live in the country legally.
‘Any immigration officer who is not giving Prince Harry preferential treatment would ask him about his admitted drug use, would find him inadmissible to the United States, and would refuse his admission,’ Kolken tweeted.
‘I handle these type of cases on a near daily basis. If Prince Harry was part of the unwashed masses he would be permanently barred from the country,’ he wrote as part of a series of fanatical tweets.
In May last year, the prince admitted to taking drugs and regularly ‘drinking a week’s worth of alcohol in one day’ to ‘mask the pain’ of his mother, Princess Diana’s death.
‘I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling’, the Duke admitted in a television interview.
He did not specify which drugs he had taken.
When he was 17, Harry was reportedly sent to rehab by his father Prince Charles after he was caught smoking cannabis.
St James’s Palace confirmed last year that Harry had ‘experimented with the drug on several occasions’ but he said he was not a ‘regular’ user.
Kolken posted a series of Tweet obsessing over the Prince’s current status.
‘When he first left Canada on a private jet was he inspected and admitted to the United States? If he was inspected and admitted, what status was he admitted under, and what was the date he was authorized to remain in the United States? Did he apply for any extensions, change, or adjustment of status after his admission? What status does he currently hold? Has he engaged in any activities that were not permitted under his current status? Has he ever admitted to any drug use?’ he pondered.
‘These are just a few questions off the top of my head, and if I could ever get answers it will result in another string of questions that will determine if Harry has ever violated U.S. immigration law potentially resulting in a permanent bar to admission.’
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