By now, we all know the Queen had a vast collection to give away upon her death. Some of it has gone to Princess Kate, some to Prince William and of course, her daughter, Princess Anne. Naturally, King Charles inherited the throne, but that isn’t all he inherited from his mother.
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King Charles inherited Queen Elizabeth’s diamonds
After Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022, Charles automatically inherited the throne, but he also inherited the Queen’s Cullinan Diamond. This diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond that has been found, as reported by Express. The diamond is estimated to be worth £392 million ($400 million) in today’s economy.
The diamond was gifted to King Edward VII, Queen Elizabeth’s great-grandfather, in 1907 for his birthday by the South African Government.
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The diamond was too large
The Cullinan diamond was so large that it had to be cut down into 9 smaller pieces. In fact, the late Queen Elizabeth often wore two of them together as a brooch.
Goldsmith Chante Nieuwhof told Express:
The Cullinan diamond was too big, and it wasn't possible to put the whole diamond in a crown or any other piece of jewelry, which led to the diamond to be split into nine separate pieces.
Queen Camilla will be crowned with Queen Mary's Crown during the Coronation in May.
— The Royal Watcher (@saadsalman719) February 14, 2023
The Crown has been removed from the Tower of London and is having the Cullinan III, Cullinan IV and Cullinan V Diamonds fitted into their positions.
🔗 https://t.co/ABwyNgPUEEpic.twitter.com/DRKvK1CmG7
Read more:Queen Camilla to make history with £50m changes to crown for coronation
Adding:
The worth of the stone would be an estimated USD 400 million in the current market.
There are nine large pieces of the diamond, totalling approximately 1,055 carats, besides other smaller cuts.
As mentioned before, the late Queen Elizabeth used the Cullinan III and Cullinan IV a lot and now Queen Camilla is altering Queen Mary’s crown to incorporate them to pay her respects to her mother-in-law.
The Cullinan III is the largest diamond piece out of the nine. It is also known as the Lesser Star of Africa.
Sources used:
Express: ‘King Charles sitting on £332m fortune that Queen Camilla could use for Coronation’
