Buckingham Palace dodges Koh-i-Noor question after Zohran Mamdani’s demand to King Charles

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has thrust Britain’s colonial legacy back into the spotlight after publicly suggesting he would urge King Charles III to return the disputed Koh-i-Noor diamond to India — only for Buckingham Palace to refuse to reveal whether the explosive issue was discussed during their subsequent meeting.

Speaking ahead of a memorial ceremony in New York on Wednesday, Mamdani told reporters that if he had a private moment with the King, he would “probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond,” reviving one of the most emotionally charged symbols of Britain’s imperial past. 

Hours later, the pair were photographed shaking hands at the public event, but neither Mamdani’s office nor Buckingham Palace would confirm whether the controversial jewel was raised in conversation.

The 105-carat Koh-i-Noor — whose Persian name means “Mountain of Light” — remains embedded in the British Crown Jewels and has for decades been at the centre of repatriation demands from India, which argues the gem was taken under colonial coercion. 

The diamond entered British possession in 1849 under the Treaty of Lahore after the Anglo-Sikh war, signed by ten-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh after the annexation of Punjab.

Though long displayed as a symbol of royal grandeur, the jewel has increasingly become a diplomatic flashpoint and shorthand for unresolved colonial grievance.

Calls for its return have intensified in recent years, and Queen Camilla notably did not wear the Koh-i-Noor crown at the 2023 coronation amid concerns it could inflame tensions with India.

Mamdani’s intervention now risks placing King Charles in the middle of a fresh international debate over whether Britain should continue to hold one of the most contested artifacts of empire — a question Buckingham Palace appears keen not to answer.