Man Claims Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Stole His Instagram Handle

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's newly launched Instagram account came at the expense of another man's handle.

British driving instructor Kevin Keiley, who spoke to Radio 1 Newsbeat, had been using the Instagram handle @sussexroyal for three years –the name created due to his favorite soccer team Reading FC, who are named the Royals, and because he lives in West Sussex – before the launch of the new royal's account on Tuesday suddenly meant that his handle was switched without his knowledge.

"I got a jokey text from my son, which said, 'Ha ha, I see your handle has gone then'," he said, according to the BBC. "I thought 'What's that all about?' He said, 'Look on Instagram' so I looked on Instagram and suddenly my handle wasn't @sussexroyal anymore it was @_sussexroyal_ . It had been taken."

"I'm a bit loath to use Instagram until I have a chat with them personally," he added, explaining that while he was not an active user and did not boast many followers, he was "annoyed" that neither the Royal Family nor Instagram had contacted him before changing his handle to @_sussexroyal_.

Thankfully, Keiley doesn't appear to be taking the news too hard, though he is attempting to assure that he holds onto his @sussexroyal Twitter handle by becoming more active of a tweeter.

"What I'm trying to do is keep tweeting therefore they can't take it if it's active. I don't know what the royals are planning down the line," he said, speaking directly to the royal couple when he added, "Hello Harry and Meghan. If you do want my Twitter account as well can you at least have the decency to speak to me?"

While Keiley said that he doesn't "think I'll be following the royals," his failure to hit the follow button hasn't stopped the Duke and Duchess from breaking the Guinness World record for the fastest time to gain one million followers on Instagram, a record previously held by K-Pop star Kang Daniel. Within just five hours and 45 minutes of the account's launch, the couple's Instagram account had reached one million followers, a number that has only climbed in the hours since and currently has them resting at a comfortable 3.8 million followers.

The launch of their own Instagram account means that each house of the palace now has their own account, with Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton, along with their three children, keeping fans updated under the KensingtonRoyal handle, Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall posting under the ClarenceHouse handle, and Queen Elizabeth and other updates regarding the entirety of the Royal Family being posted under the TheRoyalFamily account.