The Koh-i-Noor: The World’s Most Dangerous Diamond

The Koh-i-Noor diamond is the centrepiece of the British Crown Jewels. It is arguably the most famous gem in the world. But it is also the most dangerous. Countless people have lost their lives in the fight to possess it, the result, many believe, of a terrible curse. In Persian, Koh-i-Noor means ‘The Mountain of Light’. Its origins are a mystery, but most experts think it came from a river bed in India.

First Appearance

Its first verifiable appearance came in the middle of the 17th century, as the central gem in the Peacock Throne of the Emperor Shah Jahān, head of the Mughal empire in the Indian subcontinent. The diamond quickly became a symbol of power. It passed, through conquest, to the Persian ruler, Nāder Shāh, and then to his Afghan bodyguard, who established a huge empire in Afghanistan and northern India.

Emblem of Power

The jewel was now one of the most famous emblems of power in the world. In the words of one Afghan queen: “If a strong man were to throw four stones, one north, one south, one east, one west, and a fifth stone up into the air, and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor.” The Afghans finally lost the priceless gem to a Sikh military commander called Ranjit Singh at the beginning of the 19th century.

The British Empire

This is when the British appeared in the story. Britain was in the process of building what would be the biggest empire in the world, and much of it was on the Indian subcontinent. The British wanted the Koh-i-Noor. Singh’s ten-year-old son, Duleep, now the owner of the gem, was ‘persuaded’ to hand it over in 1849 to the British, for the imperial Queen, Victoria.

Bloody History

Queen Victoria had no idea of the bloody history of the diamond, or its curse. Over the centuries, as the gem passed from ruler to ruler, its 793 carats (according to legend) were covered in layer after layer of cruelty and suffering. Eyes were punctured with hot needles, people were cremated alive, and one torture victim died wearing a crown of molten lead. Duleep’s life was just another example. The British took Duleep to England with the diamond. Queen Victoria liked him but felt guilty over how the jewel had arrived in her hands. Happy at first, Duleep soon became bitter at his situation, and eventually left the court. He finally died in poverty.

World Domination

The Koh-i-Noor had arrived in England as the symbol of Britain’s domination of the world. It was presented at the Great Exhibition in London’s Hyde Park in 1851. The Exhibition was designed to show Britain’s global domination, and six million people, thirty per cent of the British population, went to see it. The jewel was an enormous disappointment, however. It was much smaller and less spectacular than people had expected. It was later made part of the Crown Jewels. Britain’s current Queen, Elizabeth II, has never worn the gem. It was last seen on the coffin of the Queen Mother in 2002.

Uncertain Future

The future of the Koh-i-Noor is not clear. Several countries have demanded its return, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Even the Taliban say they want it. Will the jewel stay in the Tower of London? Or will we see it, one day, on the head of Britain’s future Queen Camilla? Considering its bloody history, perhaps Camilla should think twice...

The Diamond’s Curse

William Dalrymple is a Scottish writer and historian. His latest book is Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond, which he co-wrote with the author and broadcaster Anita Anand. He talked about his book at the International Festival of Literature and Thought in Traquair House in Scotland last year. He began by describing the terrible journey of the diamond from India to England in 1850, which only added to its reputation for having a mysterious curse.
 
William Dalrymple (English accent): The diamond is put under lock and key into the hold of the ship Medea, and within a day of leaving Bombay port, cholera breaks out on the ship. And I don’t know whether you’ve ever seen Nosferatu, the Herzog movie where there’s the plague ship and all the rats? It’s like that. The crew begin to die off. There are two guards of the Koh-i-Noor, one of whom dies, one of whom doesn’t. They try to land at Mauritius, but the Mauritius coastguard shell them, and won’t allow them to land. They then end up in a storm. So this wreck of a ship, with one guard alive and half a captain attached to the wheel lands at Portsmouth, whereupon the diamond is taken straight off to the Great Exhibition and becomes, at this point, but not before, this symbol of imperial loot. 

A Great Fiasco

Dalrymple compares the disappointing final appearance of the diamond to that of the Millennium Dome, the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair’s much-awaited commemoration of the arrival of the 21st century.

William Dalrymple: And this is the centrepiece of the Great Exhibition, but it’s rather like the Millennium Dome – it’s a flop. And everyone’s slightly disappointed by the Koh-i-Noor – the special safe has been made – and they try various ways of lighting it, but it’s dull.

Cutting the Diamond

The British Government decided to cut the diamond to make the new symbol of colonial power more attractive to the public. The problem was that Mughal society preferred diamonds to be uncut, appearing as they were when they came out of the ground. Size was all important. Europeans, however, liked symmetrically-cut diamonds that shone. The curse of the diamond continued … 

William Dalrymple: They decide to re-cut the diamond so that it goes into European form, and it’s a huge cock-up. Now it’s already become this great celebrity object, and so the beginning of the cut is done by none other than the Duke of Wellington, as an old man, who has no sooner touched this diamond than he falls over and has a stroke the following week, as is so often the way.

Breaking Diamond Laws

The diamond cutting did not go to plan, however. In fact, you could describe the whole process as an enormous disaster. It’s a miracle anything of the diamond survived!
 
William Dalrymple: It’s a huge mess … They try to cut the diamond against the planes, the structure of the diamond, which is one of the kind of basic laws of diamond cutting… is broken. And at the end of it, the container of the diamond melts because it’s got so hot. Diamonds are just carbon, they’re the same stuff as coal, they burn. So the diamond begins to burn, and in the process it’s disappearing into the most expensive smoke ever effulged into the atmosphere. And at the end of it, it loses two-thirds of its weight.