Why Camilla’s crown at King Charles' coronation won’t feature this controversial diamond

Now that we have most of the details for King Charles III's coronation (which will take place on 6 May 2023), conversations are turning to the more minute details of the event – one of which includes the crown Camilla, Queen Consort will be wearing on the big day.

Camilla will be crowned during the same ceremony as her husband, King Charles III, at Westminster Abbey, but which it seems there's been a lot of back and forth as to which crown in particular will be used. Initially, it was reported that Camilla was set to wear the Queen Mother's platinum crown, which contains a rare diamond called the Koh-i-Noor. But according to a source, who spoke to the Daily Mail, there were concerns behind closed doors that having this jewel on display could cause real upset.

Buckingham Palace has now confirmed that the Koh-i-Noor diamond will not feature at the Coronation in May. Instead, the Queen Consort will wear the crown of Queen Mary, which was the original crown that the diamond was taken from.

The crown will be reworked to include diamonds from the late Queen Elizabeth's personal collection too, by way of a touching tribute to Britain's longest-reigning monarch. This means Camilla will be the first consort to wear a reused crown since the 18th century.

Just to explain things a little. more: this 'new' diamond was once encrusted on Queen Mary's crown for her coronation in 1911, and was later moved to the Queen Mother's crown for her and King George VI's coronation in 1937.

According to the palace, "Minor changes and additions will be undertaken by the Crown Jeweller" in order to insert jewels that are 'unique' to the occasion. These will be the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds, which were part of the Queen Elizabeth II's jewellery collection. Queen Mary's crown has been removed from display at the Tower of London to undergo the modifications.

What is the Koh-i-Noor diamond?

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was acquired by the East India Company following the Anglo-Sikh Wars and in 1850, and was presented to Queen Victoria. It has stayed in the hands of the royals ever since. More recently though, Indian campaigners and public figures have been asking Britain to return the stone (there are also similar requests being made by Afghanistan and Pakistan).

A spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, told The Telegraph, "The coronation of Camilla and the use of the crown jewel Koh-i-Noor [would] bring back painful memories of the colonial past."

The diamond was made the centrepiece of a crown designed for the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, also named Elizabeth (Bowes-Lyon, known as 'the Queen Mother'), back in 1937. Prior to that, the stone was featured in the crowns of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII, and Queen Mary, wife of George V.

According to the source, "There are serious political sensitivities and significant nervousness" about the headpiece.

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