BBC
So, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Straight-Up Stole a British Driving Instructor’s Insta Name and He’s ‘Annoyed’
Poor Kevin. Reading F.C. fan Kevin Keiley is “flattered” but also “annoyed” that his Instagram username has been stolen by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The 55-year-old set up his IG account with the @sussexroyal username simply because he is a fan of the Reading F.C. Football club, also nicknamed “The Royals”— and lives in West Sussex. Cleary, IG did not think the driving instructor was worthy of the handle because they handed it off no problem to the red-headed stud, 34, and his wife, 37, – without asking!
Kevin found out from his son that his username had been swapped. “I got a jokey text from my son which said ‘Ha ha, I see your handle has gone then,'” Kevin told BBC Newsbeat. “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.”
Apparently, Kevin was not using the platform very much, so IG decided that it fit the guidelines of an “inactive” account. He used it to send some loyal likes here and there, but never actually posted any pictures! So, sorry Kev but technically IG did have the right to give your username away. Instagram has confirmed to Newsbeat that replacing Kevin’s username was in line with the policy that allows for the site to make changes to an account that has been inactive for a certain amount of time.
The dad has no hard feelings about Harry and Meghan, and even calls them “lovely people,” but as for IG well … not so much. “I’m a bit loathe to use Instagram until I have a chat with them personally,” he confessed.
Don’t worry, Kevin still has his username for his Twitter! The dad is now Twitter’s No. 1 fan and has continued to tweet away, all so that his username can stay just how it is. “I can tell you that Twitter’s gone mental. I used to have four followers and in 24 hours I’ve gone up to about 198,” he told the outlet. “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.”
As for Instagram, Harry and Meghan, won’t be seeing one specific person in their followers. Kevin says he will return to IG one day but admits “I don’t think I’ll be following the royals.” We don’t think they’ll be too worried about the number of followers on their account. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Instagram on Tuesday, April 2 — and literally broke a world record. The iconic duo gained 1 million followers within the first five hours and 45 minutes of being on IG — which is the fastest time to reach that follower count according to “The Guinness World Records Book.”
“‘Welcome to our official Instagram; we look forward to sharing the work that drives us, the causes we support, important announcements, and the opportunity to shine a light on key issues,'” the caption of their first post reads. “‘We thank you for your support, and welcome you to @sussexroyal.’ – Harry & Meghan.” Welcome back, Meghan!
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