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Prince Harry slammed as he opens up about BURNOUT: 'He's never done a hard day's work'

Harry, as part of a BetterUp mental health panel, said he 'knows he needs to meditate every day as a father, husband, and someone starting a business'

Harry defended his mental health enterprise BetterUp during his first public appearance of the year, saying that businesses should "give everyone time to focus on themselves." On a virtual panel, the Duke of Sussex, who is 38 years old, was joined by BetterUp CEO Alexi Robichaux, friend 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 added, before going on to explain how he had experienced "burnout" and rhapsodized about the significance of "taking time for inner work." However, based on a number of reactions on social media, his advice was slammed as impractical.

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One Twitter user scoffed at the idea of 'me-time', saying: "I've got loads on at work today. I might tell my boss that I need time to focus on myself as that's what Prince Harry told us to do. I'm sure they won't mind." Another person said Harry's "never done a hard day's work in his life."

Harry, during his virtual presentation, had encouraged employees to make time to take breaks to "workout, take the dog for a walk, get out in nature, maybe meditate," giving his own example of how he makes time for self care. 

He stated: "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 also said that he "knows he needs to meditate every day" as a "father, husband, and someone starting a business."

"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," the Duke concluded. Despite the Duke's earnestness, his advise was rejected by the majority of those who were watching the virtual conference for the startup BetterUp .

One tweet said: "So, Prince Harry reckons everyone can fit 45min of self care into their morning routine... Harry, some of us have to go to work while our kids are at school, not yoga..." Another user quipped: "Joking aside, what are Prince Harry's qualifications for lecturing anybody about mental health?," before stating that "Markle fans" were "poor, of low education and potentially very vulnerable," and that BetterUp should show some responsibility to them rather than "making millions of easy dollars".