Men have died for it and at least three countries — and the Taliban — claim it is their own. It’s also a controversial symbol of Britain’s colonial history.
It is no wonder that the crowns used in King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s May 6 coronation will not feature the fabulous but hugely scandalous $400 million Koh-i-Noor diamond.
The diamond is said to be cursed, bringing bad fortune and even death to any man who owns it.
But because it is regarded as good luck for women, it has been the showpiece of every queen consort’s crown since 1849 — until now.
“This is one of the most controversial diamonds in the world and the argument over who it belongs to is still ongoing, so there is no surprise that the Queen won’t be wearing it,” royal commentator Joshua Rom told The Post. “The king and queen are presenting themselves as a more progressive and modern monarchy — and the Koh-i-Noor diamond is, to many, a representation of a colonial past.
“Camilla is already a controversial figure to some because of Princess Diana, so it is not surprising that the palace doesn’t want her also associated with the diamond.”
Extracted from the Koller Mine in southeast India, the diamond weighed an incredible 793 carats before
it was cut. Its first owners were the ninth-century Kakatiya dynasty and, for centuries, it passed between
warring tribes in India.
The first written record of the diamond appears in 1628 when the diamond was set into the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan’s magnificent Peacock Throne alongside the Timur Ruby, which is also now part of the Royal
Collection.
His son Aurangazeb gave it to Venetian aristocrat Hortenso Borgia to cut — but that turned out to be a bit of a flop as the 793 carats went down to 186.
The Mughals were overrun by the Persian Nadir Shah who is said to have exclaimed “Koh-i-Noor”
— “mountain of light” in Persian — when he saw the diamond.
When he was assassinated in 1847, it passed to the Emir of Afghanistan and then, after more death and war, ended up back in the hands of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in Punjab.
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By the time Singh died, the British East India Company had expanded its control of India and had its eye
on the diamond.
In 1849 the Governor General of India imprisoned Singh’s 10-year-old son and heir, Duleep Singh, with his mother; for his freedom, he had to sign a document handing ownership of the diamond to the British.
It was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 and given pride of place at the Great Exhibition a year later.
But the diamond was deemed disappointingly “dull.” So it was cut again, to its present weight of 105.6 carats.
Queen Victoria wore it as a brooch but even she was uneasy about how it reached her, writing to her
daughter Victoria: “No one feels more strongly than I do about India or how much I opposed our taking those countries and I think no more will be taken, for it is very wrong and no advantage to us. You know
also how I dislike wearing the Koh-i-Noor.”
When she died, a tradition started of featuring the diamond in the crowns of the Queen Consort; it was
last used in the Queen Mother’s crown when it was placed atop her coffin in 2002.
The Indian government has demanded the British return the diamond ever since it gained independence
in 1947, and a group from India even started legal action in 2015.
But leaders from Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all claimed it too, with the Taliban saying they had a much better claim than the
Indians.
Ahead of the coronation, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi let it be known that wearing the Koh-i-
Noor would bring back “painful memories of the colonial past.”
Britain has responded to all the claims by saying the ownership is too confusing so the Royal Collection
will keep the diamond but is planning an exhibition around it after the coronation.
The display will reportedly explain how what is called a “symbol of conquest” came into the hands of the British Royal Family.
