The Coronation guest who was accused of being Meghan Markle in disguise has revealed the truth behind his unique look.
Legendary composer Sir Karl Jenkins, whose ‘haunting, very Welsh’ work Tros y Garreg was played during the ceremony, caught the eyes of viewers as he sat next to Andrew Lloyd Webber‘
After days of wild speculation the 79-year-old confirmed he was not the duchess in a large white wig and glasses, or a thief dressed in disguise trying to steal the crown jewels.
Sir Karl, who is perhaps best known for composing the song Adeimus, told viewers that he has had his distinguished moustache since the age of 18.
He said: ‘I was quite surprised that some people thought I was Meghan Markle in disguise. Someone wrote I was there, whoever I was, to steal the crown jewels.’
Composer Sir Karl Jenkins, 79, took to TikTok to tell Coronation viewers he was not Meghan Markle in disguise and that he has had his moustache since he was 18
He said: ‘I was quite surprised that some people thought I was Meghan Markle in disguise. Someone wrote I was there, whoever I was, to steal the crown jewels.’
Sir Karl chuckles then adds: ‘I look like this all the time and in addition this on my neck, which is what they give you when you get a knighthood – this was around my neck over which my tie came and my jacket.
‘Oh and my moustache has been referred to in The Times as well – but I’ve had the moustache since I was 18 years old. It was very trendy then. So that’s me. Nothing sinister about it or surprising at all.’
Others joked online about the misunderstanding, saying it was ‘Tilda Swinton deep in character’ or ‘Just wait until the polyjuice [a transforming potion from Harry Potter] wears off’.
Many agreed that the off-the-cuff remark was one of the best jokes made about the day, which saw King Charles III crowed at Westminster Abbey alongside his wife, Queen Camilla.
Composer Sir Karl Jenkins, 79, recently told BBC News that he remembered watching the last coronation in 1953 as an eight-year-old in Swansea.
Today his music formed part of Charles III’s coronation ceremony, to show the King’s love and appreciation for Welsh culture and music.
‘I am very honoured. It obviously sums up Welsh culture – the harp – and he [the King] has always supported Welsh music,’ said Sir Karl.
‘I don’t know whether he chose it, but he was happy to have it there. I know he likes it otherwise he wouldn’t have asked me.’
The 79-year-old’ work Tros y Garreg was played during the ceremony (pictured in 2015 receiving his knighthood)
Social media users enjoyed the suggestion that the Duchess of Sussex would don a disguise to sneak in to the coronation. One said the image reminded him of Tony Clifton, the rude alter-ego of American comedian Andy Kaufam in Man In The Moon, who was memorably portrayed by Jim Carrey (pictured)
The piece was first composed for the then Prince of Wales two decades ago, when he was reinstating the role of royal harpist. Catrin Finch, the first person to win the reinvigorated role, played the piece.
‘It’s a slow movement based on old Welsh folk tune,’ said Sir Karl. ‘It’s haunting, it’s very Welsh and the story is redolent of a soldier returning home and crossing the stile.
It starts very quietly, with the strings playing the melody of the folksong, then the harpist is doing this technique called bisbigliando, which means whispering in Italian,’ he added.
He studied music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a fellow and an associate. He became the lead songwriter of jazz-rock bank Soft Machine in 1974, having joined the band two years earlier.
He collaborated with Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber on Jesus Christ Superstar and with Elton John on Tumbleweed Connection, released in 1970.
In 2008 Jenkins’s The Armed Nab was listed as No. 1 in Classic FM’s ‘Top 10 by living composers’.
He received an OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours and a CBE in 2010, before being knighted in 2015.
