Zohran Mamdani wants King Charles to return the Kohinoor diamond to India

WorldPolitics
30 Apr 2026 • 10:12 AM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

Zohran Mamdani wants King Charles to return the Kohinoor diamond to India

  • NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would urge King Charles III to return the Kohinoor diamond to India if they had a private conversation, according to Politico.
  • Mamdani made this comment on Wednesday before attending a 9/11 Memorial ceremony in downtown Manhattan, where King Charles was attending with Queen Camilla.
  • The Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of the world's largest, was mined in India and forcibly acquired by the British East India Company in 1849 during colonial rule.
  • India has repeatedly requested the diamond's return from Britain since its independence in 1947, with the most recent request occurring in 2016.
  • The mayor's democratic socialist beliefs and his early exposure to his academic father’s thinking on the effects of British colonial rule influence his stance on the diamond.

IN FULL