Former British Colonies Demand $400 Million Kohinoor Crown Jewel Be Returned Following The Death Of Queen Elizabeth
Numerous nations that were once colonies under British rule are demanding the return of a $400 million diamond “taken” by Queen Victoria nearly 200 hundred years ago, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The diamond – dubbed the Kohinoor – is currently considered royal property and remains on display within the Tower of London.
But with the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, the former Asian colonies — namely India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran —have renewed their claims that the 109-carat diamond was “looted” from them in 1850 and demand its immediate return.
“Britain owes us,” Shashi Tharoor, a member of India’s parliament, recently said. “But, instead of returning the evidence of their rapacity to their rightful owners, the British are flaunting the Kohinoor on the Queen Mother’s crown in the Tower of London.”
“It is a stark reminder of what colonialism truly was: shameless subjugation, coercion, and misappropriation,” Tharoor added.
According to a timeline of the precious Kohinoor’s history, the diamond traveled between many different hands throughout Asia before being handed over to Queen Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, in 1849.
The diamond was reportedly shipped to Bombay and was ultimately received by Queen Victoria on July 3, 1850, when it arrived at Buckingham palace.
Although the Royal Family has regularly insisted the Kohinoor was a “gift” after Britain annexed the Kingdom of Punjab, others have claimed the diamond was taken from the Kingdom of Punjab by Britain and should be returned.
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Queen Elizabeth passed away suddenly, albeit peacefully, on Thursday shortly after being placed under medical supervision by her doctors.
Although the majority of the world is mourning the loss of the late 96-year-old monarch – who ruled for a whopping 70 years – other critics of the monarchy have slammed Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family for the alleged atrocities Great Britain committed around the world.
“I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying,” one critic, a professor named Uju Anya wrote in a tweet that was met with immediate condemnation. “May her pain be excruciating.”
“If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star,” Anya continued.
“That wretched woman and her bloodthirsty throne have f----- generations of my ancestors on both sides of the family, and she supervised a government that sponsored the genocide my parents and siblings survived,” she concluded her posts. “May she die in agony.”
Anya’s Twitter posts were quickly removed from the social media platform for violating its rules, but not before Jeff Bezos, Piers Morgan, and a slew of others slammed the professor for such harsh rhetoric against the Queen as she was in the process of taking her final breaths.