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Prince Harry, Meghan Markle win crown for fastest to 1M Instagram followers

It took less than six hours.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

It may not be a crowning achievement, but Prince Harry and Meghan Markle broke an Instagram world record for reaching 1 million Instagram followers in under 6 hours.

 Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle broke the Guinness World Record for being the fastest to get 1 million Instagram followers. 

The couple launched their account sussexroyal on Tuesday, reaching 1 million followers in 5 hours and 45 minutes, according to Guinness. At the time of publication, the account had 3 million followers. 

"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," reads the account's first post, which has more than 1 million likes. 

On Wednesday, the couple also shared a post of Prince Harry meeting with people as part of his work in mental health. 

View this post on Instagram

Today The Duke of Sussex met with families, children and young adults at @Ymcaenglandandwales 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

About an hour after the couple's account launched, Instagram "partially crashed, preventing most users from being able to follow the account on first clicking the follow button," according to journalist Benjamin Wareing.

K-Pop star Kang Daniel previously held the Guinness record after joining Instagram earlier this year. He reached 1 million followers in 11 hours 36 minutes. Pope Francis, who got 1 million followers in 12 hours, held the record in 2016. 

The Royal Family is quite familiar with the social network. Its Instagram account has more than 5 million followers and over 2,400 posts. Even Queen Elizabeth herself has posted content to the account. 

Last month, the Royal Family shared a set of social media guidelines asking people to show "courtesy, kindness and respect" on its accounts. This came after Duchesses Kate Middleton and Markle became the target of hateful comments online. In January, Kensington Palace reportedly asked Instagram and Twitter to help curb abusive comments. 

Before her wedding to Prince Harry, Markle had deleted her social media accounts. It's safe to say many people are happy to have her back.