Karl Jenkins, a 79-year-old Welsh composer, stressed in a phone interview on Thursday that he is not Meghan Markle.
“No, I’m certainly not,” Mr. Jenkins said, adding that he is “a young 79.”
Why would anyone confuse the composer with the Duchess of Sussex? The accusations started after the coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey on Saturday. Ms. Markle did not go, but Mr. Jenkins, a classical composer who was knighted in 2015, did attend because one of his harp compositions was being performed.
Mr. Jenkins, who has a mop of shaggy white hair and a prominent bushy mustache, said that he wore his usual prescription aviator glasses with tinted lenses at the ceremony.
But to some people, his unkempt hair and oversize glasses resembled a disguise. On social media, jokesters claimed Mr. Jenkins was Ms. Markle, whom Buckingham Palace had said was not traveling to London with Prince Harry for the ceremony, but was instead staying in the United States with their children.
On Tuesday, after some tweets speculating that Mr. Jenkins was an incognito duchess had received hundreds of thousands of views, he posted a video to TikTok in which he said he was not Ms. Markle in disguise.
“This is just what Meghan Markle in disguise would say,” reads the most-liked comment on his video.
In an interview from London, Mr. Jenkins, who said he had met Ms. Markle twice, spoke to The New York Times about his unexpected brush with internet fame.
The following interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
How did you find out that people thought you were Ms. Markle?
My music publisher informed me the next day of this kind of stirring on social media. I couldn’t believe it, really. In my neighborhood, three different groups have pointed to me and said, “You were at the Abbey!” I’m being bought drinks.
How did you prepare your coronation look?
My hair, glasses and mustache are a fixture. I’ve had the same look since I was 18, so there’s nothing sinister or fabricated. My spectacles are not sunglasses, they’re prescription specs, which I had slightly tinted because I had a cataract operation last year.
How do you feel about people obsessing over your appearance?
I don’t know whether to see it as a compliment or not. It’s quite ridiculous actually, because the security necessary to get into the Abbey on the coronation was immense. You had to show a passport, a driving license and a utility bill with an address that corresponded to your name. No one in any kind of disguise could have gone through that security.
Which responses have been the funniest to you?
There was something about me stealing the crown jewels. That seemed a bit absurd. There was one that called me the coolest guy at the Abbey, which is quite good going for someone of my age.
