What is the controversial Star of Africa Diamond gracing King Charles' royal sceptre?

As the United Kingdom braces for the coronation of King Charles III, the people of South Africa are calling for the return of the glorious diamond “The Star of Africa” also called the Cullinan I diamond. The famous diamond with a long history now sits in the royal sceptre which is possessed by the British monarch. The same sceptre will be held by the new UK King Charles III at the historic coronation event which is scheduled to take place on Saturday. According to TRT Africa, people in the erstwhile British colony have launched an online petition and demanded the diamond from the UK. 

"The diamond needs to come to South Africa. It needs to be a sign of our pride, our heritage and our culture," said Mothusi Kamanga, a lawyer and activist in Johannesburg who has promoted an online petition, TRT Africa reported. The demands of bringing the diamond back started to intensify back in September 2022, when Charles’ predecessor Queen Elizabeth II passed away. The celebrated diamond weighs a whopping 530 carats and was discovered in South Africa in 1905. While the royalists claim that it was gifted to the British monarch, speculations that the diamond was stolen are still not over.

The royal sceptre which is held by the UK monarch at the coronation ceremony, Image: Royal Collection Trust

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is crowned the Monarch of Britain holding the Royal Sceptre, sat on the throne, wearing St. Edward's crown, at Westminster Abbey, in London, June 2, 1953

What is the Cullinan I Diamond: The Star of Africa?

According to the British Royal Collection Trust, the Cullinan Diamond is the largest diamond ever found and incorporated in the crown jewels of the British monarchy. The stone was discovered near Pretoria in modern-day South Africa back in 1905. The diamond was named Cullinan after the chairman of the mining company Thomas Cullinan. The original diamond was the size of a human heart. The diamond in the sceptre is Cullinan I which was cut from the Cullinan diamond, which was a 3,100-carat stone that was mined near Pretoria. The smaller diamond known as Cullinan II was set in the Imperial State Crown which will be worn by Charles at the coronation ceremony. 

The complete set of nine stones produced from the Cullinan Diamond, October 1908, Image: Royal Collection Trust 

The two diamonds were one of the nine stones that were cut from Cullinan Diamond. The impressive diamond was cut by Joseph and Abraham Asscher. Asscher later created the famous Asscher-cut diamond style, which is a popular cut for engagement rings even today. All the nine diamonds now belong to the Royal Family. The historic diamond has also produced several smaller gems, which grace the royal trust as well. The Cullinan I, popularly known as the Great Star of Africa has been worn as a brooch- a style which was favoured by the wife of King Geroge V, Queen Mary. 

Asscher using the hammer for the first operation on the Cullinan Diamond, February 1908, Image: Royal Collection Trust 

A royal gift or a ‘stolen’ diamond?

According to the Royal Collection Trust, the massive Cullinan diamond was presented to the then-British Monarch King Edward VII in 1907. The Trust then went on to state that it was sent to Asher of Amsterdam to be cleft back in 1908. Time and again, the Royal Asscher stated that the gem was purchased by South Africa's Transvaal government, which was under British rule and was presented to King Edward VII as a birthday gift. 

 Britain's King Charles III signs an oath to uphold the security of the Church in Scotland during the Accession Council at St James's Palace, London, Saturday, Sept. 10, Image: AP

However, several South African historians rejected the claims made by the Trust. "Our narrative is that the whole Transvaal and Union of South Africa governments and the concomitant mining syndicates were illegal," Everisto Benyera, a South African professor of African politics told CNN last year.  "Receiving a stolen diamond does not exonerate the receiver. The Great Star is a blood diamond ... The private (mining) company, the Transvaal government, and the British Empire were part of a larger network of coloniality,” Benyera added.

The Imperial State Crown which will be worn by King Charles III during his coronation, Image: Royal Collection Trust 

Following the death of the late Queen, Ann Mathys, the national spokeswoman for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a South African opposition political party, demanded the return of the diamonds. "The late Queen of England has flaunted these (diamonds) for over half a century,"  Mathys stated. "Our call is for repatriations for all colonial theft, which the theft of the Great Star of Africa is a part of," she added. The UK royal family is known for having many such controversial diamonds from African and Latin American countries and even Indian. In August last year, a London museum agreed to return 72 objects ‘looted’ from the Kingdom of Benin, in southern Nigeria, during a British military operation back in 1897.