Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond is a 2017 book on the Koh-i-Noor diamond written by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand. The gem is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing , and part of the British Crown Jewels. Koh-i-Noor is Persian for "Mountain of Light"; it has been known by this name since the 18th century. It changed hands between various factions in modern-day India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British conquest of the Punjab in 1849.
Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom include the Koh-i-Noor diamond presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 following the British conquest of the Punjab. Originally and set in an armlet, it was cut down to an oval brilliant weighing , which Victoria mounted in a brooch and circlet. The second was Queen Mary's Crown; also unusual for a British crown in having eight half-arches, it was made in 1911 for the coronation of Queen Mary and George V. It contains 2,200 diamonds and has contained Cullinans III and IV. In 1914, both stones and the Koh-i-Noor were replaced with crystal replicas and the arches were made detachable