From Kohinoor to Delhi Durbar Tiara: Royal Jewellery looted by Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II owned 23,000 jewels of which more than 19,000 originate from India
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(The article is based on Twitter thread)
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8th, 2022 at the age of 96 years old. While some are condoling the demise of the longest-serving monarch of Britain, there is a section of people who are celebrating it. The reason - colonisation, racism, discrimination, and looting of colonial countries.
Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8th, 2022 at the age of 96 years old. While some are condoling the demise of the longest-serving monarch of Britain, there is a section of people who are celebrating it. The reason - colonisation, racism, discrimination, and looting of colonial countries.
Speaking of India, people here were quick to point out the monarchy's role in the subjugation of their countries. In fact, within hours of Buckingham Palace’s announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, tens of thousands of tweets about the crown jewels had the term “Kohinoor” trending in India.
Apart from Kohinoor, there were several precious royal jewellery collections that was used by Queen Elizabeth II. The queen owned 23,000 jewels of which more than 19,000 originate from India. Firstly, let us get into context before we explore-
The English royalty has the world's greatest collection of Royal Jewelry, thanks to colonisation. Their clothes, costumes, and ceremonial & coronational objects are adorned with a rich set of jewels. Particularly speaking, the English Kings and Queens had a great fascination for diamonds.
However, there was a problem. Diamonds were not naturally available in England. Until 1725, all of the world's diamonds came only from one country: India. India was the only natural home of diamonds. India's proverbial riches were famed and desired throughout the world.
Of course, when the British came, they envied the Indian diamonds. It was one of the primary reasons for the establishment of the East India Company. After the conquest and colonisation of India, the diamonds & gems increased multifold in the royal collection.
Here are few-
It is pertinent to mention that "gifts" were often a means of colonialist loot induced by exerting tremendous political and military pressure.
In 1876, when Southern India was hit by a huge famine over 10.3 million people were killed. Just when a famine occurred, Lord Lytton shipped to England 6.4 million tons of wheat from India. Just then, Queen Victoria gave herself the title "empress of India" as well as the royal family continued to acquire diamonds.
In the famine year, Queen Victoria presented to her granddaughter a diamond pendant called the English Rose. This was one of the world's most expensive diamond pendants of its time.
These are just a few instances of the Queen collecting diamonds at the cost of lives in India. This article is published to put us in a different perspective when we condole the monarch.