British crown jewels have fraught history
Koh-i-Noor will stay out of sight
For decades, Britain has been giving back its spoils of empire: the Stone of Scone to Scotland in 1996, Hong Kong to China in 1997, and, most recently, some of the Benin bronzes, with perhaps more to follow.
But, so far, that spirit of returning what was taken has not extended to the British crown jewels— specifically to the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which will be kept out of sight during King Charles III’s coronation Saturday, and the Cullinan diamonds, which will feature heavily.
Where the Koh-i-Noor diamond was first pulled from the earth is unknown, although it probably came from southern India, according to William Dalrymple and Anita Anand in their book “Koh-i-Noor: The Story of the World's Most Infamous Diamond.” For centuries, the 186-carat rock traveled through Central and South Asia from one empire to another: the Mughals, the Persians, the Afghans. Koh-i-Noor is Persian for “mountain of light.”
By the 1810s, it had passed to Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the leader of the Sikh Empire in Punjab, a region now split between India and Pakistan. When Singh died in 1839, a years-long power struggle ensued before the throne, and the diamond, came to Singh's 5year-old son Duleep Singh. His mother served as regent.
By this time, the British East India Company controlled the territory adjacent to the Sikh Empire and — well aware of the diamond and its value— invaded. The empire fell, and in 1846, Duleep Singh, now 7, surrendered the Koh-i-Noor to the Queen Victoria when he signed the Treaty of Lahore. Within months, his mother was imprisoned, and the boy was raised by British military “protectors.”
In London, the matte finish on the diamond did not impress, so it was recut to its current size, about 105 carats.
India has demanded the return of the diamond since Indian independence in 1947, as have Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. The British government maintains the treaty was legal, even if it was signed by a child under duress. Duleep Singh did not see his mother for 13 years after she was taken away; he lived a largely sad life in England and died in 1893.
Queen Victoria wore the Koh-i-Noor as a brooch, and Queens Alexandra, Mary, and Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) wore it mounted into their crowns, according to the Royal Collection Trust. It was last seen in public at the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002.
Amid speculation, Buckingham Palace confirmed this year that Queen Camilla would not wear the Koh-i-Noor during the coronation. Instead, she will wear Queen Mary's crown set with stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond, the largest gem-quality colorless diamond ever found. Other gems cut from the Cullinan Diamond are mounted on the “sovereign's scepter” and on Charles's Imperial State Crown, which will both makes appearances during the coronation.