Queen Elizabeth’s was a life well lived,
a promise with destiny kept.
That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today.
It may feel like Charles has been King for ages already,
but it isn’t official until the Crown Jewels come out.
At his coronation next year,
the new King will wear a solid gold crown of 400 gemstones,
which is kept with the rest of the royal bling
in the Tower of London.
Among them are some of the most precious jewels in the world,
including the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond,
set into another crown in 1937 for the Queen Mother.
But some believe this controversial gem
doesn’t belong to Britain at all.
Forget reparations.
The least it can do is return India’s stolen artifacts.
The Koh-i-Noor is a part of our cultural heritage.
It's something that we treasure.
So is it rightfully the royals’?
Or is it ill-gotten gains?
And if so, should it maybe be given back?
Royal Empires of Dirt,
a show about how British monarchs got rich
at the expense of everyone else.
The Koh-i-Noor is one of the largest clear-cut diamonds in the world,
about the size of a small chicken’s egg.
Reportedly mined in South India in the 13th century,
its name translates to “Mountain of Light” in Persian.
Verifiable reports of it date as far back as the 18th century,
when it was one of the many jewels
that was set in the Peacock Throne of the Mughal Empire in India.
Koh-i-Noor is a 106-carat diamond.
It was once the largest diamond in the world.
It belonged to various rulers of India.
The Koh-i-Noor changed hands and moved between dynasties in Asia
throughout its long history,
often as a result of violent looting or as a trophy of war.
But in 1849,
when the Kingdom of Punjab formally came under British rule
at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War,
the UK claims that the diamond was gifted to Queen Victoria.
After it arrived in England,
the Koh-i-Noor was shown off to the public
at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park,
sat on top of a plush red cushion inside a gilded birdcage.
It was supposed to represent
the triumph and might of the British Empire.
Apparently, the public were unimpressed
and complained that they thought it would be sparklier.
Talk about ungrateful subjects.
Today, the Koh-i-Noor remains on display at the Jewel House
in the Tower of London over there.
But the most famous showpieces in the tower are the Crown Jewels,
treasures containing stones of great antiquity and beauty.
The royals’ right to the gem has been hotly disputed for 75 years,
ever since India gained its independence from Britain in 1947—
even before Queen Elizabeth II took the throne.
It was taken from Lahore,
which is the cultural capital of Pakistan.
Perhaps some of these things should go back to where they belong.
Modern-day borders and the mystery of the Koh-i-Noor’s origins
mean that India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran
have all laid claim and demanded its return.
But Britain has rejected them all.
The Koh-i-Noor Diamond, are you ever going to return that?
That is a question I’ve never been asked before.
I think— I’m afraid to say, to disappoint all your viewers,
I’m afraid it’s going to have to stay put.
When David Cameron visited India as Prime Minister in 2010,
he said the diamond was “going to have to stay put,”
explaining that if he made one return,
there'd be nothing left in the British Museum.
Yes, David. That’s sort of everybody’s point.
In 2016, India’s government determined
that the British hadn’t stolen the diamond
but that it was given to Queen Victoria as a gift.
But its possible appearance at next year’s coronation,
crowning Camilla as Queen Consort,
could reignite discussions of its contested ownership
and the campaigns for it to be surrendered.
After Queen Elizabeth’s death,
Koh-i-Noor trended on Twitter
as Indian users called for the theft to end with her reign.
The Historic Royal Palaces website makes no mention of
the bitter historical dispute over the Koh-i-Noor,
saying only that it is “a symbol of conquest”
with “a turbulent history.”
The very fact that an Indian artifact
is sitting in the Tower of London in the Queen Mother’s tiara,
a place where it emphatically does not belong,
is a reminder of how it got there.
Not only is the monarchy refusing to acknowledge
calls for returns or reparations,
it’s doubling down to protect what they do have.
In 2021, an investigation found that
police were barred from searching the Queen’s private estates
for looted or stolen artifacts
after the government granted her a personal exemption
from a law protecting the world’s cultural property.
We don’t know what she was so worried about,
but you can bet it’s not bootleg DVDs.
The resistance to open and honest discussion
of the costs and spoils of empire, and its violence and oppression,
filters through British society from the royal family down.
King Charles has said that he wants a relatively modest coronation
to reflect the diversity of Britain
and usher the royal family into a modern era.
The new King also has an opportunity
to acknowledge the ills of British imperialism,
beginning with the Koh-i-Noor diamond.