Camilla to wear Kohinoor crown as Queen: India, other countries' claims to the diamond explained

Marking the 70th anniversary of her accession to the British throne, Queen Elizabeth II announced that that Prince Charles’ wife Camilla  would be known as “Queen Consort” upon her son’s accession to the throne. According to the Daily Mail, Camilla will also have the Queen Mother’s priceless platinum and diamond crown placed on her head on Prince Charles’s coronation. The crown, which was created for King George VI’s coronation in 1937, is set with 2,800 diamonds including the famed Kohinoor. The 105.6 carat diamond has been a matter of contention between India and England since time immemorial with the former claiming time and again that it should be returned. Let’s take a look what has made the diamond special and all the countries that have laid claim to it: What is Kohinoor’s history The 21.12 gram diamond has a long contested history. The diamond is said to be found in India in the 14th Century and has changed hands many times till 1849. In 1849, the diamond was ceded to Queen Victoria after the British annexation of Punjab. The Kohinoor diamond, estimated to cost over $200 million, was neither stolen nor “forcibly” taken by British rulers but given to East India Company by erstwhile rulers of Punjab, the government had told the apex court. The diamond has been a part of the British Crown Jewels since then but has remained a subject of a historic ownership dispute among four countries, including India. Queen Victoria wore the diamond in a brooch and a circlet before handing it down to Queen Alexandra, who wore it in her crown. It was later transferred to the crown of Queen Mary in 1911 and then finally to the Queen Mother’s crown in 1937. It now forms part of the Crown Jewels on display at the Tower of London. Ownership dispute for Kohinoor The famous diamond has been a subject of diplomatic controversy as several countries including India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have asked for its return from the UK several times. India The government of India made a case for the diamond as soon as India achieved independence in 1947. According to a report by The Telegraph, a second request was made in 1953, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. In 2000, several Indian MPs from both houses of Parliament signed a letter for the diamond’s return, claiming it was taken illegally. However, British officials said that it was impossible to establish the gem’s owner due to ‘multiplicity of claims’, said a report by The Guardian. In 2009, Tushar Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, said that the Kohinoor diamond should be returned as “atonement for the colonial past”. On his visit to India in July 2010, then-prime minister of the UK David Cameron, 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”. In April 2016, the Indian government stated it would make "all possible efforts" to arrange the return of the Kohinoor to India. However, the Centre had also told the Supreme Court that the Kohinoor diamond was neither “forcibly taken nor stolen” by British rulers, but given as a “gift” to East India Company by rulers of Punjab. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar said India should not stake claim to Kohinoor because other countries may start pressing India for return of their items. Pakistan Pakistan asserted its ownership over the diamond for the first time in 1976. In a response to Pakistan’s request, then-prime minister of the UK James Callaghan wrote a letter to then-prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “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 Lahore in 1849. I could not advise Her Majesty that it should be surrendered,” Callaghan wrote. The country has since requested for the diamond’s return several times including in 2016 and 2019. In 2019, Pakistan’ information minister Fawad Chaudhary said that the jewel should be returned to the country. “Fully endorse the demand that the British Empire must apologise to the nations of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the Bengal famine… these tragedies are a scar on the face of Britain, also Koh-e-Noor, must be returned to Lahore museum, where it belongs,” Chaudhry in a social media post. Afghanistan In 2000, the Taliban too demanded the return of the Kohinoor, saying that the Queen should hand back the gem ‘as soon as possible’. The Taliban’s foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, said that the diamond was the ’legitimate property’ of Afghanistan and it had better claim to it than India. “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. With inputs from agencies