Notably, it was not formally possible to buy a commission in the British Navy. This is because the British Empire was an island and so their Navy actually mattered and couldn’t be lead by a bunch of idiots with vanity titles.
Before the Royal Navy was professionalized, there were plenty of officers who were mostly useless. Rich people in high society used connections and favors to get the role, and this gave them higher standing in society. In fact, it was kind of the point: "gentlemen" were expected not to have a profession, as that would lower their social standing. They were just supposed to sit around being wealthy, and at some point lead troops into battle.
It was only at the end of the 17th century that Samuel Pepys introduced the officers apprenticeship, which of course, was mostly open to (again) high-born kids and people who got favors from the crown, but at least they had to have years of experience first and pass an exam. So the Royal Navy Officers were still literally nepo babies.
> He was named "Horatio" after his godfather Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (third creation), (1723–1809), the first cousin of his maternal great-grandmother Anne Turner (1691–1768). Horatio Walpole was a nephew of Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (second creation) the de facto first prime minister of Great Britain. [1]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_of_commissions_in_t...
Maybe it's going to be a system for allowing tech companies to deploy their personal defense battalion against riots?