The Koh-i-Noor diamond is an object embodying Britain’s history of blood and horror, and one which apparently deserves wheeling out for special monarchical occasions i.e the upcoming coronation, as it has become entrenched within the Queen Consort’s crown, and therefore in British ‘tradition’. If anything, the diamond should be considered a black mark on British heritage - not a sparkling accessory to our (already controversial) monarchy. And yet people argue that it deserves its place; that the monarchy should not give into ‘Woke-Aggedon’. But is it really so horrifyingly woke to not want to be reminded of our frankly abhorrent past? Especially at a time when the world’s eyes are turned towards our tiny island?
The diamond epitomises all that the Empire stood for: oppression, brutality and despotism. The Koh-i-Noor was coerced from the hands of Maharajah Duleep Singh, the 10 year-old boy King of Lahore in 1849 by the East India Trading Company. They held his mother hostage and forced him to sign a contract for his ‘own protection’, thereby signing away his country, its people and their identity, as well as the diamond, to the next 100 years of colonialist rule. The East India Trading Company then presented their prize to Queen Victoria: another addition to the Crown’s jewellery collection and empire, leaving the Maharajah to die alone and in poverty.
They held his mother hostage and forced him to sign a contract for his ‘own protection’, thereby signing away his country, its people and their identity, as well as the diamond, to the next 100 years of colonialist rule
What better symbol to start the reign of our new King? Doesn’t our history of coercion and oppression just incite such a sense of patriotic pride?
The Crown’s use of the Koh-i-Noor is insensitive to say the least. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shouldn't even need to say that it would bring back “painful memories of a colonialist past” - shouldn’t we, in the year of 2022, be able to recognise that for ourselves? But no, the tradition of the Queen consort’s crown has overruled this, superceding the importance of international relations with a tradition just 40 years older than the very independence of India itself.
In 1902, the jewel was set into Queen Anne’s crown for Edward VII’s coronation, and in 1947 India gained independence and asked for its return. They were denied. In 1976, Pakistan also made a bid for the diamond, only to be denied again. Britain have done all they can to hold on to this colonial remnant - the memory of the Empire - which some are still trying to protect from the threat of ‘woke-ness’. Instead of facing up to the issues surrounding the Koh-I-Noor diamond, it seems blindly accepting tradition is preferable, the concept of ‘woke’ allowing for the ignorant dismissal of our problematic history.
To what extent can this country ignore the burden of our colonialist past rather than accepting the ramifications of our, and this diamond’s, history?