Prince Harry’s new roles in BetterUp and the Aspen Institute place him in the category of American plutocracy

On Tuesday, it was revealed that the Duke of Sussex will join BetterUp, a Silicon Valley startup dedicated to promoting corporate health, as its Impact Manager. The next day, Harry was also confirmed as a commissioner on the Aspen Institute’s Information Disorder Committee, a well-funded DC Research Center media-focused project. Megan of Spotify and Netflix notes that Harry’s independence plan passes through Silicon Valley, Beltway and Hollywood, and as Sangita Singh-Kurtz notes in Cut, the two new positions mean it is increasingly difficult to describe Harry’s actual career. “He went and collected two of the most mysterious and awesome corporate titles on the market,” wrote Singh Kurtz. Now, all he needs is something with the word ‘strategy’ in it to complete the professional wreath. But while Harry’s circumstances are unusual, there’s something very familiar about the featured job titles on LinkedIn filling up his résumé. Harry is leaving the British royal family, but he may join the modern American ruling class, and the hiring comes after a period of uncertainty for Harry. Unlike his wife, who was an actress before becoming Duchess of Sussex, he had no traditional career path, as Harry spent 10 years in the British Army, including two tours in Afghanistan. But other than that, he was operating in the opaque realm of being a “prominent member” of the royal family – albeit non-essential, due to his birthright. Harry was a “backup heir”, in the royal parlance, destined to live a lifetime of shaking hands and ribbon-cutting unless a series of early deaths took the throne. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey aired this month – full of revelations about how the royal family worked with British newspapers and voiced concern about Harry and Meghan’s son’s race – the couple revealed that they have lost not only financial support for the Crown, but also perks like security. “We didn’t have a plan,” Megan told Winfrey, explaining how the uncertainty in their situation coincided with the broader global fear of the coronavirus pandemic, but the couple were warmly greeted when they moved to California. For three months last year, Megan, Harry and their son Archie stayed at a home owned by Tyler Perry, the powerful producer, director, and actor, who gave them their own security details. It provided a large financial pillow as well: valued at $ 25 million and $ 100 million, respectively. It is unclear if Harry’s position with BetterUp was paid for, although the startup was definitely well funded with a $ 300 million collection and a $ 1.73 billion valuation raised. The Aspen Institute said Harry’s role is not being compensated, and Harry made clear his decision to take over the jobs he announced this week by talking about his strong belief in mental health and his fears of “an avalanche of misinformation.” Sussex – a country representative with a popular national health service and a target of intense tabloid pressure – to join a for-profit mental health company and share a media-based panel with Katherine Murdoch was some odd. “Prince Harry and Murdoch’s son-in-law Robert are not those whom I have entrusted with a commission on disinformation, however [Aspen Institute] Gillian C.York, a writer and activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote on Twitter that, in fact, Harry might have substituted one elite stratospheric universe for another. We are used to seeing him with former American politicians, as we are accustomed to seeing him with former American politicians, as Harry and Meghan’s agreements with Spotify and Netflix came after former President Barack Obama struck similar deals with the two tech giants. It may seem surprising how easy it is to move from the crowded world of European royal lineage to the United States, a land of innovation and merit. But Harry’s imperial background is well coveted by the American audience. “Royal obsession transcends traditional political divisions in the United States,” Heather Sophin Horn wrote for the New Republic in 2018, citing opinion polls that indicated that members of the British royal family were more popular in the United States than most. American Politicians: Despite Britain’s legacy of a strict class structure, most academics say it is better than the United States at social mobility. Polls show that Americans overestimate social mobility within their country. Political philosopher Michael Sandel has said that America suffers from “the arrogance of merit,” where success is seen as the work of the individual. In the interview, Harry Winfrey told Winfrey that the royal family lives on public perception and that “there is a level of fear that has been present. For generations.” He may have fled the family and the fear that accompanies it, but the prince still manages to stay on top.