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Britain’s royal household in South Africa is searching for to return the world’s largest identified clear diamond after the demise of Queen Elizabeth II.
Known because the Great Star of Africa or Cullinan I, the diamond is minimize from a big gemstone that was mined in South Africa in 1905 and handed over to the British royal household by the colonial authorities of South Africa. It is at the moment mounted on the royal scepter of the Queen.
Demands for repatriation have intensified because the demise of the Queen, together with requires the return of the Great Star of Africa and different diamonds. Many South Africans think about the acquisition of British jewellery illegitimate.
nationwide dialog
A royal reward or ‘stolen’ diamond?
Queen Elizabeth II wore the Imperial State Crown and carried the orb and scepter after her coronation. Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images
“It was sent to Amsterdam in 1908 to scuttle Escher,” it added.
Supporting the British monarchy’s declare on the valuable stone, Royal Escher states that the gem was bought by the Transvaal authorities of South Africa (run by British rule) and offered as a birthday current to King Edward VII.
Evaristo Benera, a professor of African politics at a college in South Africa, refutes this narrative. He informed CNN that “colonial transactions are illegitimate and immoral.”
“Our narrative is that the entire Transvaal and South African governments federation and concomitant mining syndicates were illegal,” stated Benera, arguing that: “receiving a stolen diamond doesn’t absolve the receiver. Great The star is a blood diamond … the personal (mining) firm, the Transvaal authorities and the British Empire had been half of a bigger community of colonialism.”
Queen’s death brings back painful memories of British colonialism
According to Royal Escher, the Cullinan diamond was cut into nine large stones and 96 smaller pieces. The largest stones were named the Great Star of Africa by King Edward VII, who also named the second largest cut stone the Small Star of Africa.
The larger diamond was installed with the cross in the sovereign’s scepter and the second cut stone was set in the Imperial Crown. Queen Elizabeth II has been seen in many pictures wearing these diamonds.
“The late Queen of England has waved these (diamonds) for greater than half a century,” Leigh-Ann Mathis, national spokesperson for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africa’s opposition political party, told CNN.
Mathis accused the British colonial powers of stealing land and grabbing the mines of the natives.
“Our name is for repatriation for all colonial piracy, part of the theft of the Great Star of Africa,” she said.
“We do not call for its return, as it implies that there was a valid agreement according to which the diamond was lent to the British royal family. It is entirely in their possession as a result of colonial asceticism, which allowed the natives in this country suffocated. And elsewhere,” Mathis informed CNN.
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