Plummy TV royals expert is Italian-American from New York

Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, born Tommy
Muscatello, says he identifies as a Brit

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In the run-up to the royal wedding, the seemingly stereotypical
aristocrat appeared on TV channels across Europe and the US,
sharing his insights into what Meghan Markle could expect from her
new life as the Duchess of Sussex.

In one interview on Norwegian TV, he sternly advised
the former Suits star to focus on  “making sure that the
traditions and heritage that we have as British people remain at
the forefront”, The Guardian reports.

In reality, however, the plummy-voiced pundit
was Italian-American Thomas “Tommy” Muscatello, according to The
Wall Street Journal.

Obsessed with Britain from a young age,
Muscatello said he first adopted an English accent while living in
his hometown of Bolton Landing, New York state.

After moving permanently to the UK in 2012, the
Anglophile threw himself into developing his desired identity as
Thomas Mace-Archer-Mills, a name he says he created using the
surnames of extended family members.

To further bolster his British credentials, Muscatello
“has an agreement with two unrelated elderly British people who let
him call them his grandparents”, says The Daily Telegraph.

The founder of the British Monarchist Society
and Foundation and publisher of royal-watcher magazine Crown and
Country, Muscatello appears at monarchist conferences and even
helped organise a Serbian royal wedding in 2017.

Despite his origins, Muscatello says he
“identifies” as British rather than American – a comment which drew
mocking comparisons on social media to Rachel Dolezal, the white
woman who claimed to be African-American on the grounds that she
identified as black.

Being exposed as a “phony” Brit did not appear
to disturb Muscatello, who told the WSJ that “Thomas
Mace-Archer-Mills” was more than a persona.

“I found where I’m supposed to be and who I am
supposed to be,” he said.