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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Antony Thrower

Controversy of two diamonds worth hundreds of millions wanted back by former colonies

The death of the Queen brought worldwide tributes and sorrow - but from South Africa and India among the tears were calls for the return of two diamonds with a combined estimated value of £400million.

During the days of colonial Britain, several jewels and artefacts were taken from countries with several ending up in the British Museum.

The death of the monarch last week has prompted calls for the return of two of the most famous diamonds in the world - the Kohinoor and The Great Star of Africa.

The Kohinoor - also known as the Koh-i-noor - started trending almost as soon as news of the Queen’s death broke as users demanded the return of the gem.

India have called for the return of the diamond (ullstein bild via Getty Images)
The Great Star of Africa on the sceptre (Getty Images)

The history of the 105 carat Kohinoor started in 1628 when Mughal ruler Shah Jahan commissioned a throne encrusted with gemstones.

It remained in Mughal hands for more than a century until Persian forces invaded India in 1739 and the diamond was stolen.

The precious item changed hands between various leaders across Asia, until it ended up back in India with a five-year-old emperor named Maharaja Duleep Singh in the 1840s.

The British, a growing presence in the country by then, eventually forced Singh to hand over the diamond where it was sent over to England and displayed in the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The Queen's death has renewed calls to return the gems (Getty Images)

Later, it was worn as a brooch by Queen Victoria and later mounted into the crowns of Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary.

Victoria wore it as brooch before it found its way into the Crown of Queen Alexandra in 1902 and then Queen Mary's in 1911 before its latest slot as part of the Queen Mother's coronation regalia.

Until this year the gem - said to be cursed - was last seen in public in 2002 when it was perched on top of her coffin.

In September a petition to send it back was started by an Indian businessman and aimed to gather one million signatures.

In 2013, the then prime minister David Cameron refuted the idea that the UK should return the diamond back to apologise for colonising India.

The Queen wearing the crown with the Kohinoor diamond (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

Another diamond demanded to be returned is the Great Star of Africa - the world’s largest known clear-cut diamond.

Also known as Cullinan l, it was part of a larger diamond gifted to the Royal Family after it was mined in South Africa in 1905 when the country was under British rule.

The massive diamond is currently mounted on the end of a sceptre which belonged to the Queen.

Following last week’s death of the monarch African Transformation Movement (ATM) MP Vuyo Zungula called for the return of the gem - as well as South Africa leaving the Commonwealth.

He told timeslive.co.za : “SA should now leave the Commonwealth, demand reparations for all the harm done by Britain, draft a new constitution based on the will of the people of SA not the British Magna Carta, and demand the return of all the gold, diamonds stolen by Britain.”

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