Last year, activists in South Africa also petitioned for the cuts to be returned and placed in a South African museum instead.

While the late Queen was laid to rest, criticism arose of the late monarch for never formally apologising for Britain's colonial past in South Africa.Īnd so, the Cullinan diamond remains wrapped in the timeline of colonial history, which raises the question of whether the cuts of it should return to the land where the original stone was found. Pic: ReutersĪfter the death of Queen Elizabeth II, both the Cullinan I and II were placed on display.

Image: A brooch containing Cullinan cuts was on display at Buckingham Palace in 2012. 'There are demands within South Africa for reparations and the return of the gem because it is a powerful symbol of empire.' 'The diamond's gift in 1907 was controversial'Īs the royals prepare their Crown Jewels for the upcoming ceremony, the question of right and wrong surrounds them - with growing calls for the royals to return the cuts of the diamond to their homeland.ĭr Matt Graham, a senior lecturer in African history at the University of Dundee, said: 'The journey of this diamond from South Africa to the monarchy is part of imperial networks, empire, and colonial rule, where resources from across the world were extracted for the benefit of Britain. The 96 smaller stones were given to the Asschers as their fee for cutting the diamond. In 1910, after King Edward's death, King George V had the Cullinan I and Cullinan II set in the sovereign's sceptre and Imperial State Crown respectively. Pic: APĬullinan I became known as the Star of Africa and Cullinan II became known as The Lesser Star of Africa. The stone was carefully sent off to England and to keep it safe, detectives from London were asked to send out replicas and decoys in public to throw off potential thieves.Īfter the Anglo-Boer War, the South African Transvaal government bought the diamond from Cullinan and later presented and gifted it to Britain's King Edward VII in 1907. The Cullinan diamond was only a fragment of an even bigger stone that was still not yet discovered - it weighed 3,106 carats (621.2 grams). He continued to grow in his career and in 1910, Cullinan was knighted for his work in the diamond industry.Īccording to the Cape Town Diamond Museum, the diamond was first discovered at the Premier Mine in Pretoria, South Africa, by Fedrick Wells in 1905. In 1897, Cullinan moved to Parktown, where he discovered the Premier diamond fields a year later.Ĭullinan soon became the co-founder of what came to be The Transvaal Chamber of Industries - a mining-industry employer organisation.

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