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71-601: It is 41.40 mm × 29.50 mm × 12.15 mm (1.630 in × 1.161 in × 0.478 in) and weighs around 182 metric carats. It is the world's largest known pink diamond. It may have been cut originally from an even larger stone. This diamond, as is also presumed for the Koh-i-Noor , was mined in Kollur mine in the Golcanda region of Andhra Pradesh , India . Its early origins are shrouded in mystery, but it

142-531: A full-scale invasion of North-West India . This invading force soon captured Delhi where, after a massacre of the civilian population, the army began a systematic looting of the wealth of the city and the treasury of the Mughal Empire. With nearly 10,000 wagons of loot, along with millions of rupees and an assortment of other historic jewels, Nader Shah also carried away the imperial Peacock Throne. Nader Shah's biographer, Muhammad Kazim Marvi, first recorded seeing

213-550: A black hole when the stone is viewed head-on; it is nevertheless regarded by gemologists as "full of life". Since arriving in the UK, it has only been worn by female members of the British royal family. It is said to bring bad luck if it is worn by a man. Victoria wore the stone in a brooch and a circlet . After she died in 1901, it was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra . It was transferred to

284-614: A bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone 's visit to Peshawar in 1808. A year later, Shah Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore (in modern Pakistan), where in one account, Ranjit Singh , founder of the Sikh Empire , in return for his hospitality, insisted upon

355-562: A brooch, and maintenance of the diamond was an honor bestowed upon higher ranking individuals. Another theory postulates that the diamond had made its way back to the Indian subcontinent by the 19th century. Eventually the diamond made its way into the hands of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire , where it was kept in the Toshakhana (treasury). After the annexation of the Sikh Empire into

426-457: A fifth stone up into the air – and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor". After Nadir Shah was killed and his empire collapsed in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor fell to his grandson, who in 1751 gave it to Ahmad Shah Durrani , founder of the Afghan Empire , in return for his support. One of Ahmed's grandsons, Shah Shuja Durrani , wore

497-506: A gift to Queen Victoria by the East India Company, it is clear that Dalhousie believed the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly, ensuring that it was officially surrendered to her by Duleep Singh , the youngest son of Ranjit Singh. The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor by the East India Company to the queen was the latest in a long history of transfers of the diamond as a coveted spoil of war. Duleep Singh had been placed in

568-622: A larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April on board HMS Medea , captained by Captain Lockyer. The ship had a difficult voyage: an outbreak of cholera on board when the ship was in Mauritius had the locals demanding its departure, and they asked their governor to open fire on the vessel and destroy it if there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours. On arrival in Britain on 29 June,

639-633: A loyalist of Maharaja Gulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gained Kashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following the First Anglo-Sikh War . The Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was the Marquess of Dalhousie . The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some thought it should have been presented as

710-602: A specially dug tunnel under the walls of the castle. At this time Morshead and the Keeper of the Tower Armouries removed some of the larger stones, including the Koh-i-Noor, and wrapping them in cotton wool, inserted them in a glass preserving-jar, which was then placed in a biscuit tin; the thinking being that, unlike the bulkier crowns, this would allow their swift relocation if the German invasion occurred. The Koh-i-Noor has long been

781-481: A subject of diplomatic controversy, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all demanding its return from the UK at various points. The Government of India first demanded the return of the Koh-i-Noor as soon as independence was granted in 1947. A second request followed in 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . Each time, the British Government rejected the claims, saying that ownership

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852-684: Is believed to have been one of the eyes of the Mughal Peacock Throne . In 1739, Nader Shah of Iran invaded Northern India and occupied Delhi . As payment for returning the crown of India to the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah , he took possession of the entire fabled treasury of the Mughals, including the Daria-i-Noor , the Koh-i-Noor, and the Peacock Throne . After Nader Shah's death in 1747,

923-581: Is decorated with about 2,800 diamonds, most notably the 105-carat (21.0 g) Koh-i-Noor in the middle of the front cross, which was acquired by the East India Company after the Anglo-Sikh Wars and presented to Queen Victoria in 1851, and a 17-carat (3.4 g) Turkish diamond given to her in 1856 by Abdulmejid I , sultan of the Ottoman Empire , as a gesture of thanks for British support in

994-528: Is the Daria-i-Noor; the smaller part is believed to be the 60-carat (12 g) Noor-ul-Ain diamond, presently studded in a tiara also in the Iranian Imperial collection. Koh-i-Noor The Koh-i-Noor ( Persian for 'Mountain of Light'; / ˌ k oʊ ɪ ˈ n ʊər / KOH -in- OOR ), also spelt Koh-e-Noor , Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur , is one of the largest cut diamonds in

1065-485: The Battle of Panipat . However, it is impossible to verify these details exactly about when or where it was found, and many competing theories exist as to its original owner. For some time it was alleged that while in the possession of Shah Jahan 's son Aurangzeb , the stone was cut by Hortense Borgia, a Venetian lapidarist , who reduced the weight of the large stone to 186 carats (37.2 g). For this carelessness, Borgia

1136-567: The British Crown . Another suggestion is that the jewel be housed in a special museum at the Wagah border between India and Pakistan. However this suggestion does not cater to Afghan claims, nor the reality of current British possession. The British Government rejects these compromises, and has stated since the end of the British Raj that the status of the diamond is 'non-negotiable'. A rumor that

1207-544: The Company Raj , the stone was confiscated by the British alongside other valuables from the Sikh treasury. A reference is made to it in a list prepared by John Login of confiscated items from the treasury. Login valued the diamond at 63,000 rupees, the equivalent of £6,000 in 1840 which would convert to more than £100 million in 2012. Jewelry associated with the diamond were eleven pearls, eleven additional diamonds, and eleven garnets (known locally as choonee ). The total weight

1278-673: The Crimean War . The Koh-i-Noor became a part of the Crown Jewels when it was left to the Crown upon Victoria's death in 1901. It had been successively mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary before it was transferred to the Queen Mother's crown. Most of the other diamonds originated from Queen Victoria's Regal Circlet. After the death of the King, Queen Elizabeth, known thereafter as

1349-593: The Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and to the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1937 for her coronation . Today, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London . The governments of India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor, demanding its return ever since India gained independence from the British Empire in 1947. The British government insists

1420-579: The Daria-i-Noor , which are now in the Iranian National Jewels . In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but the lackluster cut failed to impress viewers. Prince Albert , husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an oval brilliant by Coster Diamonds . By modern standards, the culet (point at the bottom of a gemstone) is unusually broad, giving the impression of

1491-618: The Iranian Crown Jewels concluded that the Daria-i-Noor may well have been part of a large pink diamond that had been studded in the throne of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan , and had been described in the journal of the French jeweller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier in 1642, who called it the Great Table diamond ("Diamanta Grande Table"). This diamond may have been cut into two pieces; the larger part

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1562-633: The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom , said of returning the diamond, "If you say yes to one you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I am afraid to say, it is going to have to stay put." On a subsequent visit in February 2013, he said, "They're not having that back." In April 2016, the Indian Culture Ministry stated it would make "all possible efforts" to arrange the return of

1633-661: The Second Anglo-Sikh War and the British East India Company 's annexation of the Punjab in 1849, during the reign of the then 11-year-old Maharaja of the Sikh Empire , Duleep Singh . The young king ruled under the shadow of the Company ally Gulab Singh , the first Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir , who had previously possessed the stone. Originally, the stone was of a similar cut to other Mughal-era diamonds, like

1704-526: The Taliban 's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, said the Koh-i-Noor was the legitimate property of Afghanistan, and demanded for it to be handed over to the regime. "The history of the diamond shows it was taken from us (Afghanistan) to India, and from there to Britain. We have a much better claim than the Indians", he said. The Afghan claim derives from Shah Shuja Durrani's memoirs, which states he surrendered

1775-534: The 1740s. There is no record of its original weight, but the earliest attested weight is 186 old carats (191 metric carats or 38.2 g). The first verifiable record of the diamond comes from a history by Muhammad Kazim Marvi of the 1740s invasion of Northern India by Nader Shah . Marvi notes the Koh-i-Noor as one of many stones on the Mughal Peacock Throne that Nader looted from Delhi . The diamond then changed hands between various empires in south and west Asia, until being stolen by Queen Victoria’s guards after

1846-658: The Board of Administration for the affairs of the Punjab: Sir Henry Lawrence (President), C. G. Mansel, John Lawrence and Sir Henry Elliot (Secretary to the Government of India). Legend in the Lawrence family has it that before the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and was most grateful when it was returned promptly by the valet who found it. On 1 February 1850,

1917-423: The Koh-i-Noor has 8 additional "star" facets around the culet , making a total of 66 facets. The great loss of weight was to some extent due to removal of several flaws, one especially big, which Voorzanger discovered. Although Prince Albert was dissatisfied with such a huge reduction, most experts agreed that Voorzanger had made the right decision and did the job with impeccable skill. When Queen Victoria showed

1988-452: The Koh-i-Noor in the 1740s on the head of one of the peacocks on the throne, along with other prominent gems such as the great Timur Ruby and the Daria-i-Noor . It is alleged that Nader Shah exclaimed "Koh-i-Noor!" , Persian and Hindi-Urdu for "Mountain of Light", when he first obtained the famous stone. One of his consorts is even noted to have said, "If a strong man were to throw four stones – one north, one south, one east, one west, and

2059-632: The Koh-i-Noor is cursed may have originated with the Delhi Gazette ; it was soon repeated in The Illustrated London News , and Queen Victoria herself expressed concern about the curse. This led to a counter-rumor that the curse attached only to male rulers. The Koh-i-Noor was one of the inspirations for the eponymous gemstone in The Moonstone (1868), a 19th-century British epistolary novel by Wilkie Collins , generally considered to be

2130-480: The Koh-i-Noor to India. The then Solicitor General of India , Ranjit Kumar said, "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object." In 1976, Pakistan asserted its ownership of the diamond, saying its return would be "a convincing demonstration of the spirit that moved Britain voluntarily to shed its imperial encumbrances and lead

2201-409: The Koh-i-Noor was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra , the wife of Edward VII , that was used to crown her at their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and finally to Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1937. When the Queen Mother died in 2002, the crown was placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state and funeral. Queen Camilla

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2272-502: The Koh-i-noor, Gulab Singh as a result of the ceasefire returned safely to Jammu with a wealth of gold and other jewels taken from the treasury. On 15 September 1843, both Sher Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh were assassinated in a coup led by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia . However, the next day in a counter coup led by Dhian's son Hira Singh the assassins were killed. Aged 24, Hira Singh succeeded his father as prime minister, and installed

2343-556: The Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read: The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England [ sic ]. The lead signatory of the treaty for the by then eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chief Tej Singh ,

2414-510: The Mughal treasury, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak , the Grand vizier to Akbar , noted that red spinels and Burmese rubies had become the most desirable jewels by the nobility. During this time the Persian new year ceremony, Nowruz , had become a period in which the subjects could bring offerings of gems and money to the imperial family in exchange for political promotions within the greater bureaucracy. By

2485-407: The Queen Mother, did not wear the full crown, but wore it minus the arches as a circlet at the coronation of her daughter, Elizabeth II , in 1953. In its full form, it was placed on top of the Queen Mother's coffin for her lying-in-state and funeral in 2002. The crown is on public display along with the other Crown Jewels in the Jewel House at the Tower of London . In September 2022, it

2556-566: The Sikh empire as its prime minister, and despite defeat in the war, he became the first Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, under the Treaty of Amritsar . On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War , the Kingdom of Punjab was formally annexed to Company rule , and the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and

2627-680: The appearance of the stone was not uncommon; Punch magazine referred to it as the "Mountain of Darkness," a play on the English translation of its name as "Mountain of Light". After consulting mineralogists, including Sir David Brewster , Victoria's husband Prince Albert with the consent of the government decided to have the diamond re-cut. For this task, he employed one of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants, Mozes Coster . He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants. On 17 July 1852,

2698-447: The care of the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company. The Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 at Buckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company. The date had been chosen to coincide with the Company's 250th anniversary. Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when The Great Exhibition was staged at Hyde Park, London , in 1851. It represented

2769-734: The cutting began at the factory of Garrard & Co . in Haymarket, using a steam-powered mill built specially for the job by Maudslay, Sons and Field . Supervised by Albert and the Duke of Wellington , and the technical direction of the Queen's mineralogist, James Tennant , the cutting took 38 days, cost Albert £8,000, and reduced the diamond from 186 old carats (191 modern carats or 38.2 g) to its current weight 105.6 carats (21.12 g). The stone now measures 3.6 cm (1.4 in) long, 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide, and 1.3 cm (0.5 in) deep. Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have 58 facets, but

2840-408: The diamond to Ranjit Singh while Singh was having his son tortured in front of him, so he argued that the Maharajah of Lahore acquired the stone illegitimately. Because of the disputes over the diamond's rightful ownership, there have been various compromises suggested. These include dividing it into four, with a piece given to each of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, with the final piece retained by

2911-449: The diamond to the temple, and hid it in his vaults. Meanwhile, Kharak Singh and wazir Dhian Singh also issued orders stating that the diamond should not be taken out of Lahore. On 8 October 1839, the new emperor Kharak Singh was overthrown in a coup by his prime minister Dhian Singh. The prime minister's brother Gulab Singh , Raja of Jammu , came into possession of the Koh-i-Noor. Kharak Singh later died in prison, soon followed by

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2982-515: The diamond was inherited by his grandson, Shahrokh Mirza . From there, it fell into the hands of Lotf Ali Khan . After Lotf Ali Khan's defeat at the hands of Mohammad Khan Qajar , who established the ruling Qajar dynasty of Iran, the Daria-i-Noor entered the Qajar treasury. During this time, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was said to be very fond of the diamond, often wearing it as an arm band, an aigrette, or

3053-408: The diamond's former owners – Shuja and his wife Wafa Begum – to estimate its value. Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space. Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he

3124-415: The diamond. In June 1839, Ranjit Singh suffered his third stroke , and it became apparent that he would die soon. On his deathbed, he started giving away his valuable possessions to religious charities, and appointed his eldest son Kharak Singh as his successor. A day before his death, on 26 June 1839, a major argument broke out between his courtiers regarding the fate of Koh-i-Noor. Ranjit Singh himself

3195-666: The first full length detective novel in the English language. In his preface to the first edition of the book, Collins says that he based his eponymous "Moonstone" on the histories of two stones: the Orlov , a 189.62-carat (37.9 g) diamond in the Russian Imperial Sceptre, and the Koh-i-Noor. In the 1966 Penguin Books edition of The Moonstone , J. I. M. Stewart states that Collins used G. C. King 's The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones ... (1865) to research

3266-461: The five-year old Duleep Singh as emperor. The Koh-i-noor was now fastened to the arm of the child emperor in court at Lahore. Duleep Singh and his mother empress Jind Kaur , had till then resided in Jammu, the kingdom governed by Gulab Singh. Following his nephew Prime Minister Hira Singh's assassination on 27 March 1844, and the subsequent outbreak of the First Anglo-Sikh War , Gulab Singh himself led

3337-438: The flawed and asymmetrical diamond still failed to please viewers. Originally, the diamond had 169 facets and was 4.1 centimetres (1.6 in) long, 3.26 centimetres (1.28 in) wide, and 1.62 centimetres (0.64 in) deep. It was high-domed, with a flat base and both triangular and rectangular facets, similar in overall appearance to other Mughal-era diamonds which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels . Disappointment in

3408-428: The gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813. Shah Shuja's memoirs dispute this, which claim Ranjit Singh extorted the diamond from him by having his son tortured in front of him. Ranjit Singh had the diamond examined by jewelers of Lahore for two days to ensure that Shuja had not tricked him. After the jewelers confirmed its genuineness, he donated 125,000 rupees to Shuja. Ranjit Singh then asked

3479-692: The gem was obtained legally under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore in 1849 and has rejected the claims. In 2018, at the Supreme Court of India the Archeological Survey of India clarified that the diamond was surrendered to the British and "it (the diamond) was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away". Babur , the Turco-Mongol founder of the Mughal Empire , wrote about a "famous" diamond that weighed just over 187 old carats – approximately

3550-641: The guardianship of Dr John Spencer Login , a surgeon in the East India Company Army serving in the Presidency of Bengal . Duleep Singh moved to England in 1854 and spent the rest of his life in exile. In due course, the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Dr Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, on 6 April 1848 under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of members of

3621-409: The history of the Koh-i-Noor. Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother The Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , also known as the Queen Mother's Crown , is the crown made for Queen Elizabeth to wear at her coronation in 1937 and State Openings of Parliament during the reign of her husband, King George VI . The crown was made by Garrard & Co ., the Crown Jeweller at

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3692-400: The jewel was sealed in a small iron safe inside a red dispatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury awaiting a steamer ship from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under tight security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the dispatch box in

3763-405: The might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery. Its mysterious past and advertised value of £1–2 million drew large crowds. At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better. Despite this,

3834-496: The mysterious death of his son and successor Nau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840. Gulab Singh held onto the stone until January 1841, when he presented it to emperor Sher Singh in order to win his favour, after his brother Dhian Singh negotiated a ceasefire between Sher Singh and the overthrown empress Chand Kaur . Gulab Singh had attempted to defend the widowed empress at her fort in Lahore, during two days of conflict and shelling by Sher Singh and his troops. Despite handing over

3905-412: The passengers and mail were unloaded in Plymouth , but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reached Spithead , near Portsmouth , on 1 July. The next morning, Ramsay and Mackeson, in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train to East India House in the City of London and passed the diamond into

3976-511: The principal jewelers of Amritsar to estimate the diamond's value; the jewelers declared that the value of the diamond was "far beyond all computation". Ranjit Singh then affixed the diamond to the front of his turban, and paraded on an elephant to enable his subjects to see it. He used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such as Diwali and Dusserah , and took it with him during travel. He would exhibit it to prominent visitors, especially British officers. One day, Ranjit Singh asked

4047-496: The process of decolonisation". In a letter to the Prime Minister of Pakistan , Zulfikar Ali Bhutto , the prime minister of the United Kingdom, James Callaghan , wrote, "I need not remind you of the various hands through which the stone has passed over the past two centuries, nor that explicit provision for its transfer to the British crown was made in the peace treaty with the Maharajah of the Sikh Empire in 1849. I could not advise Her Majesty that it should be surrendered." In 2000,

4118-422: The re-cut diamond to the young Maharaja Duleep Singh , the Koh-i-Noor's last non-British owner, he was apparently unable to speak for several minutes afterwards. The much lighter but more dazzling stone was mounted in a honeysuckle brooch and a circlet worn by the queen. At this time, it belonged to her personally, and was not yet part of the Crown Jewels. Although Victoria wore it often, she became uneasy about

4189-444: The size of the once 186-carat Koh-i-Noor. According to the diary of Alauddin Khalji of the Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate , he acquired a large diamond when he invaded the kingdoms of southern India at the beginning of the 14th century and looted it from the Kakatiyas . It later passed on to succeeding dynasties of the sultanate, and Babur received the diamond in 1526 as a tribute for his conquest of Delhi and Agra at

4260-414: The time Shah Jahan ascended the throne as the fifth Mughal emperor, there were so many jewels in the treasury that he decided to use many of them in the making of the ornate Peacock Throne in 1635. Over a century later in 1738 Nader Shah founded the Afsharid dynasty . Following the overthrow of the Safavid dynasty of Persia two years earlier, he began raiding Mughal territory before soon launching

4331-404: The time, and is modelled partly on the design of the Crown of Queen Mary , though it differs by having four half-arches instead of the eight that Queen Mary's Crown originally had. As with Queen Mary's Crown, its arches are detachable at the crosses pattée , allowing it to be worn as a circlet or open crown. It is the only crown for a British king or queen to be made of platinum . The crown

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4402-400: The way in which the diamond had been acquired. In a letter to her eldest daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal , she wrote in the 1870s: "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". After Queen Victoria's death,

4473-419: The world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom . The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother . There are multiple conflicting legends on the origin of the diamond. However, in the words of the colonial administrator Theo Metcalfe , there is "very meagre and imperfect" evidence of the early history of the Koh-i-Noor before

4544-400: Was 10.8 tolas in the local weight measurement system . The Daria-i-Noor would make its way to London but fail to garner the attraction of the British nobility. Thus, two years later it was shipped back to India to be auctioned off, with the Nawabs of Dhaka being the winning bidder. To this day it is said to remain in a Bangladeshi bank's vault. In 1965, a Canadian team conducting research on

4615-444: Was brought to the United Kingdom. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the 'Vault' exhibit at the Natural History Museum, London . During the Second World War, the Crown Jewels were moved from their home at the Tower of London to Windsor Castle . They were kept in leather hat boxes under lock and key in the office of the Royal Librarian Sir Owen Morshead until 1941 when they were transferred to

4686-417: Was crowned with Queen Mary's Crown at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023, but without the Koh-i-Noor diamond. All these crowns are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the older crowns. The original bracelet given to Queen Victoria can also be seen there. A glass model of the Koh-i-Noor shows visitors how it looked when it

4757-492: Was intoxicated. He kept the diamond within a high-security facility at the Gobindgarh Fort when it was not in use. When the diamond was to be transported, it was placed in a pannier on a guarded camel; 39 other camels with identical panniers were included in the convoy; the diamond was always placed on the first camel immediately behind the guards, but great secrecy was maintained regarding which camel carried it. Only Ranjit Singh's treasurer Misr Beli Ram knew which camel carried

4828-420: Was non-negotiable. In 2000, several members of the Indian Parliament signed a letter calling for the diamond to be given back to India, claiming it was taken illegally. British officials said that a variety of claims meant it was impossible to establish the diamond's original owner, and that it had been part of Britain's heritage for more than 150 years. In July 2010, while visiting India, David Cameron ,

4899-428: Was reprimanded and fined 10,000 rupees . However according to recent research, the story of Borgia cutting the diamond is not correct, and most probably mixed up with that of the Orlov , part of Catherine the Great 's imperial Russian scepter in the Kremlin . In early Indian history, diamonds were the most valued of gemstones. However, during the period of Mughal rule, diamonds lost this distinction. When looking at

4970-416: Was speculated that Queen Camilla could be crowned with this crown, although there was speculation that a different crown might be used due to controversy around the Koh-i-Noor after the Indian government said that Camilla wearing the diamond would evoke "painful memories of the colonial past". It was announced on 14 February 2023, that Queen Camilla would be crowned using the Crown of Queen Mary , without

5041-541: Was too weak to speak, and communicated using gestures. Bhai Gobind Ram, the head Brahmin of Ranjit Singh, insisted that the king had willed Koh-i-Noor and other jewels to the Jagannath Temple, Puri : the king apparently supported this claim through gestures, as recorded in his court chronicle Umdat ul-Tawarikh . However, treasurer Beli Ram insisted that it was a state property rather than Ranjit Singh's personal property, and therefore, should be handed over to Kharak Singh. After Ranjit Singh's death, Beli Ram refused to send

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