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Queen Consort Camilla will likely not wear the controversial Koh-i-Noor diamond in her crown at King Charles III's coronation, a royals author told Newsweek.
At the May 6, 2023, event, Camilla is expected to wear the same crown that Elizabeth II's mother wore during her ceremony. The Koh-i-Noor jewel was seized in 1849 by Britain's East India Company, which was founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1600.
A spokesperson for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party spoke to London's Daily Telegraph about how the diamond is viewed in the Asian country, saying, "The coronation of Camilla and the use of the crown jewel Koh-i-Noor brings back painful memories of the colonial past."
The spokesperson continued: "Most Indians have very little memory of the oppressive past. Five to six generations of Indians suffered under multiple foreign rules for over five centuries. Recent occasions, like Queen Elizabeth II's death, the coronation of the new Queen Camilla and the use of the Koh-i-Noor do transport a few Indians back to the days of the British Empire in India."
It is possible that the diamond could be substituted in the crown or that a different crown could be used at the coronation to avoid any diplomatic crisis and reputational damage on a day intended to celebrate Charles' reign.
Robert Jobson, author of Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams, told Newsweek, "Camilla's involvement actually is quite small. There's the main ceremony alongside, as with the last queen. Camilla's one is nowhere near as grand or as big or anything like it. They plonk it [the crown] on the head and that's it really.
"It's not on the same level, but as for the diamond I'm sure they are going to try to avoid any controversies because they don't particularly want any," Jobson said.
Newsweek reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
Whatever decision the royal family makes, it may draw attention not only in Britain and India but also in the Caribbean, where a number of countries are actively debating a break with the British monarchy to fully separate their futures from the colonial past.
As for the diamond itself, the Koh-i-Noor was passed, at the point of death, from Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh to his young son Duleep Singh in 1839. British TV presenter Anita Anand described in a 2016 article for The Guardian how the East India Company destabilized the younger Singh's kingdom in an effort to gain a foothold in the region.
She wrote: "Finally his mother, Rani Jindan, the Queen regent, was dragged screaming from his side and locked in a tower. Alone, without anyone to advise him, in 1849 the 10-year-old Duleep was forced to sign over his kingdom and the Koh-i-Noor to the British. Five years later he travelled to England, where he spent the rest of his life in exile.
"Queen Victoria was so aware of the advantage taken of Duleep, she refrained from wearing the Koh-i-Noor until he tacitly gave her permission," Anand wrote.
The Royal Collection Trust website's description of the crown reads: "The front cross holds the Koh-i-Nûr diamond in a detachable platinum mount."
It continues: "This crown was made in 1937 for Queen Elizabeth, consort of King George VI, using many stones already in the collection. Most of the diamonds were removed from Queen Victoria's Regal Circlet. The Koh-i-nûr diamond had been successively mounted in the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, and was once again reset for this crown."
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more