Place · fortress & treasury · United Kingdom

Tower of London

Also known as Tower of London — Koh-i-Noor

Function

Military & resistance

Tradition

Sikh Empire; British colonial records; Royal Collection Trust; Historic Royal Palaces

Confidence

Established / referenced

Location

51.508, -0.076

Worth knowing

The route in this repository runs from the diamond's Indian provenance through the Kakatiyas, Delhi and Agra, Nadir Shah, the Durrani rulers, Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, the annexation of Punjab, and the East India Company transfer to Britain. The stone was recut in 1852 and now weighs 105.6 carats. It is displayed with the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.

Connections (5)

• Power passed toChillianwala

  The Koh-i-Noor was surrendered under the Treaty of Lahore in 1849 by Duleep Singh, then eleven, after the annexation of Punjab that followed Chillianwala and Gujrat. It was shipped to London in 1850, cut down by nearly half at Prince Albert's direction because the Indian cut did not sparkle under gaslight, and set in a crown. India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have all asked for it back.

• Object journeyKollur / Golconda diamond fields

  The Koh-i-Noor originated in the Golconda diamond fields along the Krishna River and, after passing through the Kakatiya sphere, Delhi, Agra, Nadir Shah, the Durrani rulers and Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore, ultimately reached London in 1850. This edge marks the Koh-i-Noor journey from its Indian provenance to the Tower of London.

• Power passed toLahore Fort & Shalimar

  The Koh-i-Noor was taken from the Lahore Treasury by Dalhousie and John Lawrence after the 1849 British annexation of Punjab (Treaty of Lahore, 29 March 1849), shipped to Bombay under armed guard, and transported to England in 1850 in a sealed iron box in HMS Medea's dispatch room — an operation Dalhousie's own letters describe as the most anxious of his career. It was presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850, displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition where it was thought disappointingly dull, and then recut from 186 to 105 carats in 1852 before being set in the British Crown Jewels at the Tower of London where it has remained.

• Power passed toKoh-i-Noor

  The Koh-i-Noor was sealed on 1 February 1850 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. It was shipped to England on 6 April 1850 aboard HMS Medea under Captain Lockyer in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson. The ship had a difficult voyage — a cholera outbreak at Mauritius had locals demanding its departure, and a severe 12-hour gale struck shortly afterwards. The ship arrived in Britain on 29 June 1850 at Plymouth; the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until Spithead on 1 July. On 2 July Ramsay and Mackeson travelled by train to East India House in the City of London to transfer the diamond to the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company.

• Located atKoh-i-Noor

  The Koh-i-Noor has been on display at the Jewel House, Tower of London, since 1937, set successively in the crowns of Queen Alexandra (1902), Queen Mary (1911) and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1937). The 2002 Queen Mother funeral saw the crown placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state. Queen Camilla's 6 May 2023 coronation at Westminster Abbey deliberately used Queen Mary's Crown WITHOUT the Koh-i-Noor in deference to Indian, Pakistani, Afghan and Iranian claims to the diamond's return. During the Second World War the Crown Jewels were moved from the Tower to Windsor Castle; the Koh-i-Noor was wrapped in cotton wool and placed in a glass preserving jar inside a biscuit tin in a specially dug tunnel beneath the castle walls.

On these journeys

• Journey of Koh-i-Noor

Sources

Royal Collection Trust; Historic Royal Palaces; museum and historical records

• Wikipedia