The British government insists the gem was obtained legally under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore and has rejected the claims. The governments of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor and demanded its return ever since India gained independence from the UK in 1947. Today, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. It was transferred to the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and finally to the Crown of Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) in 1937 for her coronation as Queen consort. After she died in 1901, it was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII. Victoria wore the stone in a brooch and a circlet.

Since arriving in the UK, it has only been worn by female members of the family. Д«ecause its history involves a great deal of fighting between men, the Koh-i-Noor acquired a reputation within the British royal family for bringing bad luck to any man who wears it. By modern standards, the culet (point at the bottom of a gemstone) is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on it is nevertheless regarded by gemologists as 'full of life'. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an oval brilliant by Coster Diamonds. In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but the lacklustre cut failed to impress viewers. Originally, the stone was of a similar cut to other Mughal-era diamonds, like the Darya-i-Noor, which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels. It changed hands between various factions in south and west Asia, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849, during the reign of eleven-year-old emperor Maharaja Duleep Singh, who ruled under the shadow influence of the British ally Gulab Singh the 1st Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, who had previously possessed the stone. The diamond was also part of the Mughal Peacock Throne. It was later acquired by Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji. Possibly mined in Kollur Mine, India, during the period of the Kakatiya dynasty, there is no record of its original weight вЂ“ but the earliest well-attested weight is 186 old carats (191 metric carats or 38.2В g). The diamond is currently set in the Crown of the Queen Mother. 'Mountain of Light'), also spelt Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12В g). The Koh-i-Noor ( / ЛЊ k oКЉ ЙЄ Л€ n КЉЙ™r/ from Persian Ъ©Щ€Щ‡ Щ†Щ€Ш±, lit.

Actual carat size