Possible origins In 1310, the
Delhi Sultan
Alauddin Khalji acquired a large diamond after
subjugating the
Kakatiya dynasty of southern India. His court poet
Amir Khusrau quotes a Kakatiya messenger as saying that this diamond was "unrivaled in the world", and that wise men refused to believe its existence. The 18th century chronicler
Khafi Khan identifies this precious stone as the Koh-i-Noor. After
Babur – the founder of the
Mughal Empire – defeated
Ibrahim Khan Lodi at the
Battle of Panipat, Babur's son
Humayun captured the family of the Lodi vassal
Bikramjit, the ruler of
Gwalior. The family, who were in Agra at the time, presented a diamond to him. The
Baburnama identifies this diamond as the famous diamond of Alauddin, and states that every appraiser estimated its value at "two and half days food for the whole world".
William Dalrymple notes that this diamond may or may not have been the Koh-i-noor: there were several large diamonds in India at the time. When Humayun was fleeing India after being defeated at the
Battle of Kannauj, an envoy of king
Maldev of
Jodhpur offered to buy the diamond. But Humayun refused, declaring that this diamond cannot be bought: it can only be taken by force or received as a favour. Humayun later gifted the diamond, along with other jewels, to the Safavid ruler
Tahmasp I in return for asylum. According to Humayun's servant
Jauhar, the Safavid jewelers declared these gifts to be "above all price". For unkown reasons, in 1547, Tahmasp sent the diamond to his Shia ally, the
Nizam Shah of
Ahmadnagar Sultanate in Deccan. However, Mihtar Jamal - the envoy carrying the diamond - absconded with it. Khur Shah, an ambassador of Ahmadnagar's rival
Golconda Sultanate, confirms that this was Babur's diamond valued at "two and half days food for the whole world", although he mentions a slightly lower weight than the one mentioned by Babur. The Sultan of Ahmadnagar unsuccesfully tried to find and arrest the envoy, and the diamond does not find further mention in contemporary records.
Mir Jumla of Golconda presented a big diamond to Humayun's great-grandson
Shah Jahan.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who saw this diamond in the treasury of Shah Jahan's son
Aurangzeb in 1665, calls it the
Great Mogul Diamond,, and states that it came from the
Kollur Mine. This diamond is said to have been badly cut by the Venetian
lapidarist Hortensio Borgio since Mir Jumla gifted it. Later, many
Victorian commentators identified this diamond with Babur's diamond and the Koh-i-Noor. However, such an identification does not appear in any earlier text. Most modern scholars identify the Great Mogul Diamond with the
Orlov.
Early history seated on the
Peacock Throne after the defeat of the 13th Mughal emperor
Muhammad Shah The first uncontested mention of Koh-i-noor is by Muhammad Kazim Marvi, the biographer of
Nader Shah of Persia. According to Marvi, the Koh-i-noor was embedded in the
Peacock Throne, which had been commissioned by Shah Jahan in the previous century, and which Nader Shah looted during his
1738 invasion of India. According to the 19th century British civil servant
Theo Metcalfe, the courtesan Nur Bai informed Nader Shah that the Mughal emperor
Muhammad Shah had hidden the Koh-i-noor in his turban. Nader Shah, who had reinstated Muhammad Shah to the Mughal throne, insisted on swapping turbans with him as a token of friendship, and thus, obtained the Koh-i-noor. According to Metcalfe, Nader Shah gave the diamond its name (literally "mountain of light") on this occasion. No contemporary source mentions this story, which is likely a myth originating from the account of the Mughal courtier Jugal Kishore, who states that Nader Shah gave Muhammad Shah his own turban ornament. According to the Afghan chronicle
Siraj al-Tawarikh, after Nader Shah's assassination in 1747, the first lady of his harem gave the Koh-i-noor to his general
Ahmad Shah, who later established the
Durrani Empire. According to another account, Nader Shah's grandson gave it to Ahmad Shah in 1751 in return for his support. One of Ahmad's grandsons,
Shah Shuja Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of
Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to
Peshawar in 1808. A year later, Shah Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to
Lahore in the
Sikh Empire (present-day Pakistan).
In Ranjit Singh's possession Ranjit Singh, the founder of the
Sikh Empire, took the possession of Koh-i-noor from Shah Shuja in 1813. According to one account, Ranjit Singh insisted upon the gem being given to him, in return for his hospitality. Shah Shuja's memoirs state that Ranjit Singh extorted the diamond from him by having his son tortured in front of him. Ranjit Singh had the diamond examined by jewelers of Lahore for two days to ensure that Shuja had not tricked him. After the jewelers confirmed its genuineness, he donated 125,000 rupees to Shuja. Ranjit Singh then asked the principal jewelers of
Amritsar to estimate the diamond's value; the jewelers declared that the value of the diamond was "far beyond all computation". Ranjit Singh then affixed the diamond to the front of his turban, and paraded on an elephant to enable his subjects to see it. He used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such as
Diwali and
Dusserah, and took it with him during travel. He would exhibit it to prominent visitors, especially British officers. One day, Ranjit Singh asked the diamond's former owners – Shuja and his wife Wafa Begum – to estimate its value. Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space. Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he was intoxicated. He kept the diamond within a high-security facility at the
Gobindgarh Fort when it was not in use. When the diamond was to be transported, it was placed in a
pannier on a guarded camel; 39 other camels with identical panniers were included in the convoy; the diamond was always placed on the first camel immediately behind the guards, but great secrecy was maintained regarding which camel carried it. Only Ranjit Singh's treasurer Misr Beli Ram knew which camel carried the diamond. In June 1839, Ranjit Singh suffered his third
stroke, and it became apparent that he would die soon. On his deathbed, he started giving away his valuable possessions to religious charities, and appointed his eldest son
Kharak Singh as his successor. A day before his death, on 26 June 1839, a major argument broke out between his courtiers regarding the fate of Koh-i-Noor. Ranjit Singh himself was too weak to speak, and communicated using gestures. Bhai Gobind Ram, the head
Brahmin of Ranjit Singh, insisted that the king had willed Koh-i-Noor and other jewels to the
Jagannath Temple, Puri: the king apparently supported this claim through gestures, as recorded in his court chronicle
Umdat ul-Tawarikh. However, treasurer Beli Ram insisted that it was a state property rather than Ranjit Singh's personal property, and therefore, should be handed over to Kharak Singh. After Ranjit Singh's death, Beli Ram refused to send the diamond to the temple, and hid it in his vaults. Meanwhile, Kharak Singh and
wazir Dhian Singh also issued orders stating that the diamond should not be taken out of Lahore.
In Gulab Singh's possession On 8 October 1839, the new emperor Kharak Singh was overthrown in a coup by his prime minister Dhian Singh. The prime minister's brother
Gulab Singh,
Raja of
Jammu, came into possession of the Koh-i-Noor. Kharak Singh later died in prison, soon followed by the mysterious death of his son and successor
Nau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840. Gulab Singh held onto the stone until January 1841, when he presented it to emperor
Sher Singh in order to win his favour, after his brother
Dhian Singh negotiated a ceasefire between Sher Singh and the overthrown empress
Chand Kaur. Gulab Singh had attempted to defend the widowed empress at her fort in Lahore, during two days of conflict and shelling by Sher Singh and his troops. Despite handing over the Koh-i-noor, Gulab Singh as a result of the ceasefire returned safely to Jammu with a wealth of gold and other jewels taken from the treasury.
Worn by child emperor Duleep Singh On 15 September 1843, both Sher Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh were assassinated in a coup led by
Ajit Singh Sandhawalia. However, the next day in a counter coup led by Dhian's son Hira Singh the assassins were killed. Aged 24, Hira Singh succeeded his father as prime minister, and installed the five-year old
Duleep Singh as emperor. The Koh-i-noor was now fastened to the arm of the child emperor in court at Lahore. Duleep Singh and his mother empress
Jind Kaur, had till then resided in Jammu, the kingdom governed by Gulab Singh. Following his nephew Prime Minister Hira Singh's assassination on 27 March 1844, and the subsequent outbreak of the
First Anglo-Sikh War, Gulab Singh himself led the Sikh empire as its prime minister, and despite defeat in the war, he became the first
Maharaja of
Jammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, under the
Treaty of Amritsar.
Surrender to Queen Victoria wearing the Koh-i-Noor as a brooch, by
Franz Xaver Winterhalter On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the
Second Anglo-Sikh War, the remaining territories of the Sikh Empire were formally annexed to
Company rule, and the
Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to
Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read: The lead signatory of the treaty for the by then eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chief
Tej Singh, a loyalist of Maharaja
Gulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gained
Kashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following the
First Anglo-Sikh War. The
Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was the
Marquess of Dalhousie. The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some thought it should have been presented as a gift to Queen Victoria by the East India Company, it is clear that Dalhousie believed the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly, ensuring that it was officially surrendered to her by
Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh. The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor by the East India Company to the queen was the latest in a long history of transfers of the diamond as a coveted spoil of war. Duleep Singh had been placed in the guardianship of Dr
John Spencer Login, a surgeon in the East India Company Army serving in the
Presidency of Bengal. Duleep Singh moved to England in 1854 and spent the rest of his life in exile.
Journey to the United Kingdom In due course, the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Dr Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, on 6 April 1848 under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of members of the Board of Administration for the affairs of the Punjab:
Sir Henry Lawrence (President), C. G. Mansel,
John Lawrence and Sir Henry Elliot (Secretary to the Government of India). Legend in the Lawrence family has it that before the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and was most grateful when it was returned promptly by the
valet who found it. On 1 February 1850, the jewel was sealed in a small iron safe inside a red dispatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury awaiting a steamer ship from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under tight security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the dispatch box in a larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April on board HMS
Medea, captained by Captain Lockyer. The ship had a difficult voyage: an outbreak of
cholera on board when the ship was in
Mauritius had the locals demanding its departure, and they asked their governor to open fire on the vessel and destroy it if there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours. On arrival in Britain on 29 June, the passengers and mail were unloaded in
Plymouth, but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reached
Spithead, near
Portsmouth, on 1 July. The next morning, Ramsay and Mackeson, in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary to the chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train to
East India House in the
City of London and passed the diamond into the care of the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company. The Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 at
Buckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company.
The Great Exhibition Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when
The Great Exhibition was staged at
Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It represented the might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery. Its mysterious past and advertised value of £1–2 million drew large crowds. At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better. Despite this, the flawed and asymmetrical diamond still failed to please viewers.
1852 re-cutting Originally, the diamond had 169 facets and was long, wide, and deep. It was high-domed, with a flat base and both triangular and rectangular facets, similar in overall appearance to other Mughal-era diamonds which are now in the
Iranian Crown Jewels. Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon;
Punch magazine referred to it as the "Mountain of Darkness," a play on the English translation of its name as "Mountain of Light". After consulting mineralogists, including Sir
David Brewster, Victoria's husband
Prince Albert with the consent of the government decided to have the diamond re-cut. For this task, he employed one of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants,
Mozes Coster. He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants. Supervised by Albert and the
Duke of Wellington, and the technical direction of the Queen's mineralogist,
James Tennant, the cutting took 38 days, cost Albert £8,000, and reduced the diamond from 186 old carats (191 modern carats or 38.2 g) to its current weight . The stone now measures long, wide, and deep.
Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have 58 facets, but the Koh-i-Noor has 8 additional "star" facets around the
culet, making a total of 66 facets.
Crown Jewel After Queen Victoria's death, the Koh-i-Noor was set in the
Crown of Queen Alexandra, the wife of
Edward VII, which was used to crown her at
their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to the
Crown of Queen Mary in 1911 and finally to the
Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1937. When the Queen Mother died in 2002 the crown was placed on top of her coffin for the
lying-in-state and funeral.
Queen Camilla was crowned with Queen Mary's Crown at the
Coronation of Charles III and Camilla on 6 May 2023, but without the Koh-i-Noor diamond. All these crowns are on display in the
Jewel House at the
Tower of London with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the older crowns. The original bracelet given to Queen Victoria can also be seen there. A glass model of the Koh-i-Noor shows visitors how it looked when it was brought to the United Kingdom. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the "Vault" exhibit at the
Natural History Museum, London. During the Second World War the
Crown Jewels were moved from their home at the Tower of London to
Windsor Castle. They were kept in leather hat boxes under lock and key in the office of the Royal Librarian, Sir
Owen Morshead, until 1941, when they were transferred to a specially dug tunnel under the walls of the castle. At this time Morshead and the Keeper of the Tower Armouries removed some of the larger stones, including the Koh-i-Noor, wrapped them in cotton wool and placed them in a glass preserving-jar, which was then placed in a biscuit tin, the thinking being that, unlike the bulkier crowns, this would allow their swift relocation if the Germans invaded. == Ownership dispute ==