It’s arguably the MOST FAMOUS JEWEL in the world, but it’s also supposedly been CURSED and STOLEN from its true owners. The Koh-i-noor (also called the Kohinoor or the Koh-i-nur diamond) has had a fascinating and contentious existence and one which we’ll explore in this royal jewels documentary from History Calling as we sift fact from fiction.

Originally from India, it supposedly curses all men who wear it and so the diamond is now only worn by women. It is currently part of the British Crown Jewels and kept in the Tower of London within the Queen Consort’s Crown, but the story of how the Koh-i-noor (which means Mountain of Light) came to Britain in 1850 in order to be presented to Queen Victoria is one of the great controversies around the stone, as is the issue of who owns the Koh-i-noor diamond today. As part of the colonisation of India by the British, the then 11 year old Maharaja Duleep Singh was supposedly made to hand over the jewel to James Broun-Ramsay, Lord Dalhousie, who was then the Governor General of India. Though he did confirm a few years later that he wished for Victoria to have it, the circumstances of its original removal from India and whether he was even empowered to give away something which arguably belonged to the state, were and are deeply fraught debates. Indeed if you’ve ever wondered, ‘Why does India want the Koh-i-Noor back’ this complicated history is the reason.

Once in England, the stone was displayed in the Crystal Palace during the Great Exhibition of 1851 and worn as jewellery by Queen Victoria, before eventually being incorporated into the coronation crowns of Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. It is expected to appear during the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. So sit back, relax and enjoy hearing about the history of perhaps the most famous diamond in the world, the Koh-i-noor/Koh-i-nur/Kohinoor.

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LEARN MORE:

[FREE] Photos of replica of the Koh-i-noor before it was recut, Corning Museum of Glass
https://www.cmog.org/artwork/replica-...

[FREE] William Dalrymple & Anita Anand, Koh-I-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond (2016)
https://archive.org/details/koh-i-noo...

THUMBNAIL: Prince Charles of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, President Obama, Vice President Biden, 2015, National Archives of the United States, 183898034, no restrictions (detail)

Open Street Map copyright information: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Creative Commons licenses used see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/