King Charles’ Coronation: Would Kohinoor again stir diplomatic row between India, UK ?

Would there be a diplomatic row between India and the United Kingdom if the latter was to go ahead and allow Queen Consort Camilla, wife of newly anointed King Charles III to wear the crown that bears the famous stone Kohinoor diamond during his coronation in May next year?

In all likelihood, yes! India has time and again raised the matter of not just the Kohinoor but also other antiquities with the UK, seeking their return. If the UK were to remain unmindful of New Delhi’s sensitivities on this issue, it could well have a deleterious impact on bilateral relations.

New Delhi has already said that it has informed the Indian Parliament that it keeps raising the issue of the Kohinoor’s return with the UK government from time to time and that it will “continue to explore ways and means for obtaining a satisfactory resolution of the matter”.

But India perhaps knows only too well that it’s unlikely that the UK will ever return one of the most famous diamonds in the world to India. However, its use on one of the crown jewels is a constant reminder of the wanton pillage and plunder the British Empire indulged in in its colonies.

India, though, isn’t the only claimant to the Kohinoor. Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan too have staked claim to this famous diamond, giving an indication of the numerous hands it has passed through over the centuries.

While the British have often claimed that the diamond was legitimately acquired under the Lahore Treaty, the very legitimacy of this acquisition is questionable given that Maharaja Duleep Singh was a mere child of 10 when the Kohinoor was taken away from his possession.

Surely, it should be a matter of acute embarrassment for the English that one of its prized crown jewels has a gem that serves as a reminder of its unsavoury past as a ruthless and avaricious coloniser.

So why would the consort of a modern day monarch want to flaunt something that is considered as having been forcibly acquired? Buckingham Palace, therefore, would be well advised to desist from allowing the use of the crown embellished with the Kohinoor for the coronation.

While there have been reports in the British media stating that the new King is aware of Indian sensitivities in the matter, and that no decision on the particular crown has been taken as yet, it goes without saying that the stolen gem has the potential to cast a shadow on bilateral relations.

The Kohinoor, with its chequered history of ownership, has been with the British since 1849 after the East India Company took it from the deposed Maharaja Duleep Singh, claiming ownership under the Treaty of Lahore. The 105.6 carat diamond which at various times has had different owners, among them the Mughal emperors, Persian rulers and Sikh Maharajas.

Once taken by the East India Company, it found its way to England where it was presented to the then reigning monarch, Queen Victoria, and thus became a part of the crown jewels. It was then fixed to the crown of Queen Alexandra and thereafter Queen Mary. Eventually, it became part of the crown of Queen Mother, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and was worn by her at her husband King George VI’s coronation.

On display at the Tower of London, the Kohinoor is indeed a symbol of the legacy of loot of the British Empire. As the Empire expanded to distant shores, it carted back home precious artefacts. Is it any surprise then that the sprawling British Museum in London has artefacts brought from other parts of the world.

British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has described the Museum’s trustees as “the world’s largest receivers of stolen property” and argued for their return in his book ‘Who Owns History? Elgin’s Loot and the Case for Returning Plundered Treasure’.

To quote from an article in The Guardian about his book, it says “He criticised “encyclopaedic museums” such as the British Museum, the Louvre in Paris and the Metropolitan in New York that “lock up the precious legacy of other lands, stolen from their people by wars of aggression, theft and duplicity”.

While there have been calls at various points of time to see such museums, not just in the UK but across Europe, return the artefacts taken away by colonisers, it is unlikely that this will ever happen. But the former colonisers surely need to keep the sensitivities of the countries they plundered in mind when it comes to these artefacts. The Kohinoor is a case in point. Queen Camilla would do best to not wear the crown with the Kohinoor, a stark reminder of the UK’s plundering past.

( The writer is a senior journalist.)

—-INDIA NEWS STREAM