Zohran Mamdani faces King Charles after suggesting he return rare 105.6-carat diamond
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, Royal Family, New York, King Charles III, US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Jeenah Moon - Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Zohran Mamdani, Royal Family, New York, King Charles III, US News
Zohran Mamdani met with King Charles III at the 9/11 memorial in New York this week, just hours after he suggested the monarch returned a rare 105.6-carat diamond.
After spending much of the week with Donald Trump in the capital - which saw a pretty embarrassing flag blunder on the US' part - the King stopped off for a short visit to New York City and visited the victims' families from the 2001 terrorist attack, which saw almost 3,000 people die.
Charles met with state leaders, including newly elected NYC Mayor Mamdani, at the memorial site, and the pair were seen by the press shaking hands and speaking closely.
But putting aside the pleasantries, it seems Mamdani has some strong opinions on the British Royal Family - something he expressed very recently.
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Prior to the meeting, the mayor was speaking at an unrelated conference when he was asked about meeting the King later on that day.
While Mamdani reiterated the purpose of the engagement was to pay respects to the 9/11 victims, he did speak of something he wanted to ask the royal.
"If I was to speak to the King separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond," Mamdani said.
The diamond is believed to have been mined in South India in the 13th century, and many consider it to have been stolen by the British Empire when the nation colonized India.
It was presented to Queen Victoria in 1849 after the Treaty of Lahore and has remained in the Royal Family to this day - currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother - though there have been calls for it to be returned to Asia for several years.
India has repeatedly called for the diamond's return, but it is not the only country to claim they are the rightful owner of the 105.6-carat item.
The likes of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have also laid claim to the diamond in the past.
The Koh-i-Noor diamond is found among the monarchy's crown jewels in the UK, though the exact location of the diamond is not public knowledge.
It remains unclear if Mamdani brought up the diamond during his short time spent with the King.
Calls for it to be returned have become prevalent in recent years, with the rise of social media and after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
Danielle Kinsey, a professor of history at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, told NBC News back then: "To be purely pragmatic about it, at some point the monarchy will understand that keeping the diamond is more of a public relations liability for them than an asset.
"I think the same is true for many, many looted artifacts in Britain today and the institutions that house them.
"Also, it’s the right thing to do if the royal family is serious about making apologies for the ills of British imperialism and how they profited from it."