Camilla likely to not wear the Koh-i-noor crown during the King’s coronation
Image by Sion Touhig/Getty Images
After King Charles III’s coronation date was announced recently, it has been widely reported that Queen Consort Camilla is unlikely to wear the late Queen Mother’s 105-carat precious stone crown which features the controversial Koh-i-noor diamond in a detachable platinum mount.
Given the “political sensitivities” surrounding the gem which originated in India, even though initially media reports stated that Camilla would wear the crown, it was later stated that either the Koh-i-noor would be removed from it or she is likely not going to wear the crown during the ceremony at all.
The coronation, which has been scheduled for May 6 next year, is an event that many in the country are looking forward to as King Charles will finally accede the throne as he becomes the oldest monarch to do so.
A source told the media, “Times have changed and His Majesty The King is acutely sensitive to these issues, as are his advisors.
“There are serious political sensitivities and significant nervousness around them, particularly regarding India.”
The history of the diamond dates back to the medieval era when it is believed to have been mined near Guntur in the southern part of India. It then came into the hands of the British in the 19th Century, when the British East India Company defeated the Sikh empire of Punjab.
The Koh-i-noor was eventually brought to the UK and displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.
A spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling Indian political party, alluded to the fact that any use of the crown jewel during the King’s coronation would bring back “painful memories of the colonial past.”
Historian William Dalrymple who co-authored a book on the Koh-i-noor, also said that the precious gem “is a massive diplomatic grenade.”
He told the MailOnline, “It is actually part of a wider disconnect of a number of things that Indians get very upset about to do with the colonial period.”
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