Some South Africans have urged the UK to return the “Star of Africa,” the world’s largest diamond, which is set in the royal sceptre that King Charles III will wield at his coronation on Saturday, May 6, glamsquad reports
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The 530-carat diamond known as the ‘Star of Africa’ was discovered in South Africa in 1905. It was subsequently handed to the British Monarchy by the country’s colonial government two years later, as the country was still under British rule at the time.
Some European countries have recently returned artifacts to colonized African countries.
Germany recently returned artifacts to Edo state, while Finland returned Namibia’s Power Stone, prompting several South Africans to request that the diamond be returned.
According to Mothusi Kamanga, a Johannesburg-based lawyer who created an online petition with over 8,000 signatories,
“The diamond must be brought to South Africa.” It must be a symbol of our pride, tradition, and culture…I believe that, in general, Africans are realizing that decolonization entails not just granting people certain freedoms, but also reclaiming what has been taken from us.”
According to another South African, Mohamed Abdullahi, “I believe it should be brought back home because, at the end of the day, they took it from us while they were oppressing us.”
The Cullinan I diamond on the sceptre was cut from the 3,100-carat Cullinan diamond, which was mined in Pretoria. The Imperial State Crown, which British monarchs wear on ceremonial occasions, is set with a smaller diamond cut from the same Cullinan II stone. It is kept in the Tower of London, alongside the other royal jewels and the sceptre.
