Buckingham Palace has announced that Camilla, Queen Consort, will not wear the highly controversial 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond at the coronation of King Charles III, IDEX Online reports.
Instead, Camilla will wear a “modified version of Queen Mary’s crown, made by Garrard for the 1911 coronation and reset with the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds.”
In its announcement, Buckingham Palace said: “The choice of Queen Mary’s crown by her majesty is the first time in recent history that an existing crown will be used for the coronation of a consort instead of a new commission being made, in the interests of sustainability and efficiency.”
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. Presented to Britain by the Maharaja of Lahore in 1847 after the Anglo-Sikh war, India – as well as Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan – have all laid claim to the famous diamond. Mere days after Queen Elizabeth II’s demise, many Twitter users in India demanded its return.
Later, the prospect of Queen Consort Camilla wearing it at the forthcoming coronation in May, coupled with the origin of the newly appointed PM (Rishi Sunak is Britain’s first Prime Minister of Indian origin), have reignited the same calls.
