“Instagram grabbed my @sussexroyal and gave it to Harry and Meghan”

A British driving school operator has lost his account on Instagram @sussexroyal to Prince Harry and Meghan without prior notice. He discovered that his alias was taken from him without the permission of Instagram or the royal family. He says to the BBC that he is both honored and irritated.

The fast-growing account of Prince Harry and Meghan, respectively the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, on Instagram, which already has 3.7 million followers in three days, had been owned by Kevin Keiley (55) from West Sussex for three years. He claimed the name at the time because he is a supporter of the English football club Reading FC, which is nicknamed Royals.

Kevin has lost his alias @sussexroyal to Harry and Meghan without being asked. Kevin received a text from his son, jokingly pointing out to his father that Harry and Meghan are active on Instagram under his name. “My son wrote to me “Haha, you lost your alias.” “I thought” what is this about?” But when I looked at Instagram, I saw that my username was no longer @sussexroyal but @_sussexroyal_. “The name has been taken over.”

Instagram says in a reply that it was inactive and had no pictures on it. The driving school operator, who also uses the same name on Twitter, acknowledges that he has not posted anything on Instagram. He mainly used the social medium to follow other people, but for now, he is done with it. “I no longer use Instagram until I have spoken with them personally.”

Kevin fears that he will also lose his Twitter account to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “I try to tweet a bit more so that they don’t get a chance to say that the account is not active. I don’t know what the Royals are planning under the line.” He has a message to the duke and duchess: “Hello Harry and Meghan, if you want to use my Twitter account, at least you can do the decency contact me to take?”