Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became Instagram official this week with their own account called “sussexroyal” that is already breaking records – but, at what cost?
The account, which is intended to share important announcements about the couple, hit 1 million followers in under 6 hours (the fastest time to reach that count according to the Guinness World Records). However, the name “sussexroyal” may not have been unique to the royal couple.
A 55-year-old driving instructor named Kevin Keiley used the handle @sussexroyal for around 3 years before it was taken from him by the Duke and Duchess, BBC News reports.
Being a West Sussex native and a supporter of “Reading FC” (nicknamed the Royals), Kevin had claimed the name before he found out Instagram had changed his handle.
“I looked on Instagram and suddenly my handle wasn’t @sussexroyal anymore it was _sussexroyal_” he told Radio 1 Newsbeat. “It had been taken.”
Kevin said that no one from the royal family or Instagram contacted him to get permission to make the change – which he feels “flattered” by but also “annoyed.”
Instagram confirmed with Newsbeat that Kevin’s handle had been changed in line with its policy regarding inactivity. The policy allows the platform to make changes if the handle hasn’t been used in a certain amount of time.
I am still the only @sussexroyal on twitter
— Kevin Keiley (@Sussexroyal) April 3, 2019
The Sussex local also owns the name on Twitter, which he would like to keep unless he is notified by the royal family.
“What I’m trying to do is keep tweeting therefore they can’t take it if it’s active,” he said. “I don’t know what the royals are planning down the line.”
Kevin said that he will probably return to Instagram one day, but he won’t be following the royals.
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