Prince Harry and Meghan Markle accused of 'stealing' their Instagram account 'without permission'

4 April 2019, 14:50 | Updated: 5 April 2019, 09:44

Kevin, who lives in Worthing in West Sussex, says the neither the Palace nor Instagram had contacted him to ask for the handle.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have come under fire from an Instagram user who claims his handle Sussex Royal was given to the royal couple without his permission.

Driving instructor, Kevin Kelley, had been using the account @sussexroyal to share content for his love of Reading F.C. and his home country of Sussex for three years.

However, he was shocked to find his account name had been changed and his handle given to Prince Harry and Meghan without his permission.

Instagram have said they often change handles to "prevent digital squatting" by users who are inactive.

Read more: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's acount gets record breaking 2 million followers in 24 hours

Kevin, who lives in Worthing in West Sussex, says the first he knew that his name had been given away was when he got a text.

His local team Reading FC are also nicknamed The Royals, hence why he had used the handle Sussex Royal.

"I got a jokey text from my son which said 'Ha ha, I see your handle has gone then'," he told 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."

The news comes after Prince Harry and Meghan broke a Guinness World Record by racking up over a million followers in 24 hours.