News

Harry and Meghan take the crown for Instagram record

The couple’s new social media account gained one million followers in less than six hours.
The couple’s new social media account gained one million followers in less than six hours. The couple’s new social media account gained one million followers in less than six hours.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new social media account has broken the record for the fastest time to gain one million followers on Instagram, Guinness World Records has said.

The account @sussexroyal, set up on Tuesday, reached the one million milestone in just five hours and 45 minutes.

It now has more than 2.5 million followers and just one post so far – a gallery of photos of expectant parents Harry and Meghan, and people they met on their engagements, which has some 888,000 likes.

Guinness World Records said the previous record was held by K-Pop star Kang Daniel, who achieved one million followers in 11 hours 36 minutes after posting a selfie with the caption “HELLO”.

Before this, the record holder was Pope Francis, who reached one million in 12 hours after debuting his verified Vatican media channel franciscus in 2016.

Harry and Meghan’s new account comes as they split their household from that of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

View this post on Instagram

Today The Duke of Sussex met with families, children and young adults at @YMCAEng_Wales in South Ealing as a continuation of his dedicated work in the mental health space. “There continues to be huge progress in smashing the stigma that surrounds mental health, but let’s keep normalising the conversation. Let’s keep reminding each other that it’s okay to not be okay, and to listen to each other. After all, how we think determines how we act, how we feel, and how we treat ourselves and those around us.” -The Duke of Sussex It takes courage, strength and honesty, but talking through your mental health issues often becomes the key to dealing with them. Just like physical exercise, which we all know is good for us; we have to care for our minds as much as we do for our bodies. 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. It is a part of all of us. Have an unashamed conversation on how you feel, be empowered to share your story and you will see you are not alone. For more information visit @heads_together. 📷Royal Communications / PA

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on

In the second post made to the account, a picture of Harry meeting families, children and young adults at the YMCA in South Ealing as part of his work on mental health awareness was shared.