The British Queen faces a legal battle over a £100million diamond which forms part of the Crown Jewels. India claims that the Koh-i-Noor gem was stolen by the British after colonisation of the Punjab. Now a group of Indian businessmen and Bollywood members have instructed British lawyers to begin High Court proceedings to force the UK government to return it.
They will argue that the 105-carat diamond is part of their country’s heritage. The gem, whose name means Mountain of Light, was a “gift” to Queen Victoria in 1850. It was first used in Queen Alexandra’s crown at her husband King Edward VII’s coronation in 1902.
It is now set in the late Queen Mother’s crown at The Tower of London. The case comes in the week India’s PM Narendra Modi is to visit the Queen.