The pirates of the Mediterranean who enslaved Europeans during their salad days of the 16th and 17th centuries were referred to as "Turks" even though they were most likely from what is now the Maghreb.
Yeah, the PC crowd, particularly in Hollywood, gets ahold of these factoids and portrays these rather despicable figures as heroic figures, enhanced by much darker skin as you would find in central Africa which, by the way, is NOT where Hannibal got his elephants. The Sahara was less expansive then than now, but still presented a formidable barrier.
I agree with that. Britons would have regarded Berbers as swarthy and dark. But wardaddy is also correct when he says that Old King Cole’s name is derived from the Celtic word meaning ‘coil’ and has no relation to ‘coal’. He was more likely a native Briton than a Berber brought along by the Roman legions. Britons were a clannish people. Their descendants in America still are. It’s a stretch to think that an outsider would lead them.
Wikipedia notes that King Cole was possibly a Briton who had been a leader in the Roman military, who had turned his command into a kingdom when Rome left.
This same scenario is suggested for King Arthur- a Romanized Briton, a cavalry officer who attempted to maintain Roman civilization after the legions pulled out.