Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, owned some of the rarest, most expensive and extraordinary jewels in the world. The queen’s jewels – a collection that, unlike the Crown Jewels, is not owned by the state but is the personal property of the reigning monarch – dates back to the 16th century and can be rivaled by few diamond collections in the world.
One of the most famous stones held by the British crown is the Koh-i-Noor diamond – a fabulous 105-carat oval-shaped brilliant stone. Although it is just one of 2,800 stones set in the crown made for the Queen Mother, the Koh-i-Noor diamond has been a subject of controversy for decades.
At different times, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan have all demanded its return from the UK. Now, mere days after Queen Elizabeth II’s demise, many Twitter users in India are demanding its return, according to a piece in Time.
The Magnificent History of the Koh-i-Noor
The exact date of the diamond’s discovery is unknown, although one legend holds that the Koh-i-Noor was found in a riverbed as long ago as 3,200 BCE. In the mythological version of the stone’s history, the Lord Krishna obtained it from Jambavantha, whose daughter Krishna married – only to have the diamond taken from him in his sleep.
Legend aside, the Koh-i-Noor’s history dates back too far for it to have been mined in India’s Golconda mines. Most likely, the diamond was recovered in the Sambalpur mines on the banks of the Mahandi River – the source of most diamonds known to ancient Indians and which Ptolemy, writing in 60-90 AD, identified as the “diamond river.”
The recorded history of the Koh-i-Noor (although it would not acquire that name for some centuries) begins in the latter half of the 13th century, when it was obtained by the Delhi Sultinate. There are a number of stories about how the diamond came into the possession of the Delhi rulers, but they kept it for some 200 years, until the first Mogul emperor, Babur, took possession of it in 1526.
In the 16th century, Babur’s descendant Haumyun went into exile in Persia, taking the Koh-i-Noor with him and eventually giving it to the Shah as a gift. The next century and a half of the diamond’s history are somewhat murky, but it made its way back into the possession of the Mogul dynasty, whose Shah Jahaan had the diamond set into his famed Peacock Throne.
In 1739, the Persian Nadir Shah invaded Delhi and Agra and took the Peacock Throne and the rest of the Mogul crown jewels, which included not only the Koh-i-Noor but also the Darya-I-Noor and Nur-ul-Ain diamonds. When Nadir Shah saw the diamond in the throne, he reportedly exclaimed “Koh-i-Noor!” (Mountain of Fire), giving the stone the name by which it is known today.
When Nadir Shah was assassinated in 1747, the commander of his 4,000-strong bodyguard took the diamond back to his native Afghanistan and ruled as Ahmad Shah. When Ahmad’s grandson Zaman was imprisoned by his brother at the start of the 18th century with the Koh-i-Noor on his person, he plastered it into the walls of his prison cell. Another of Zaman’s brothers dug it out, and the diamond made its way back to India when two of Ahmad’s grandsons sought refuge there with the Lion of Punjab and were forced to give the Koh-i-Noor back.
In 1849, the British claimed Punjab as part of the British Empire in India. The Treaty of Lahore specifically mentions the diamond: “The gem called the Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Sha Shuja-ul-Mulk by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England.”
The Koh-i-Noor, after nearly being lost in the chain of custody, was safely delivered to Queen Victoria on July 3, 1850. In 1851 the diamond was displayed at the Great Exhibition.
The next year, following Prince Albert’s inquiries into whether the stone could be recut to enhance its brilliance, two Amsterdam experts arrived at Garrard’s (the royal jewelers) to begin the job. The process of recutting the Koh-i-Noor took a total of 38 days.
In 1853, Queen Victoria instructed Garrards to make her a tiara containing the diamond, and the Koh-i-Noor accordingly became the central diamond in a tiara containing over 2,000 diamonds. Five years later, Victoria ordered the Koh-i-Noor reset in a new regal circlet. In 1911 Garrards set the Koh-i-Noor in a new crown for Queen Mary, and in 1937 the diamond was again reset in a crown for George VI’s consort, Queen Elizabeth.
The diamond remains part of the British crown jewels and the British government has rebuffed a number of requests from India that the UK return the diamond.
To date, according to the piece on Time.com, “[…] no plans for the future of the gem have been disclosed.”
