{"id":25563,"date":"2026-04-30T08:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/25563\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:54:14","slug":"nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdani-says-he-would-ask-king-charles-to-return-kohinoor-to-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/25563\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani says he would ask King Charles to return Kohinoor to India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it&#8217;s investigating the financials of Elon Musk&#8217;s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, &#8216;The A Word&#8217;, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-1uza6dc-0 iOIawn\">The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n<p>New York City\u2019s mayor says he would urge the King to return a long-disputed crown jewel to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/india\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">India<\/a> if they spoke privately. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/zohran-mamdani\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zohran Mamdani<\/a> was among dignitaries who met the King and Queen at a ceremony in the city on Wednesday commemorating victims of the September 11, 2001 attack on the city by al Qaeda.<\/p>\n<p>As part of their four-day state visit to the United States, the royal couple visited the National 9\/11 Memorial in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/lower-manhattan\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lower Manhattan<\/a>, where Charles laid flowers. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2273134742.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Zohran Mamdani, who met the King in New York, said he would urge him to return the jewel\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>Zohran Mamdani, who met the King in New York, said he would urge him to return the jewel (Getty)<\/p>\n<p>Mr Mamdani told reporters before the event: \u201cIf I were to speak to the king separately from that, I\u2019d probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-noor diamond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is one of the largest-cut diamonds in the world, was mined in India and dates back to at least the 17th century. The Indian government has demanded its return from Britain several times since independence in 1947.<\/p>\n<p>Once owned by Queen Victoria, it is part of the British Crown Jewels and displayed in the Tower of London. It is said to be priceless.<\/p>\n<p>In 1849, with India under colonial rule, the British East India Company forced the 10-year-old son of the Indian royal family to give up ownership of the Koh-i-Noor. India\u2019s most recent request for it was in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2273123501.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/>(Getty)<\/p>\n<p>Twice in three days after being asked about any message he would like to send to the royal couple at Ground Zero, Mr Mamdani omitted them from his initial answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll be attending a wreath laying alongside other elected officials including Gov Hochul, Gov Sherrill, and the focus of that wreath-laying is to honour the more than 3,000 New Yorkers who were killed in the horrific terror attacks of September 11,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that is really what I\u2019m looking to do at that event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the royal family declined to respond to Mr Mamdani\u2019s remarks, according to Politico. The Independent has asked Buckingham Palace to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/bulletin\/news\/kings-speech-2026-congress-buckingham-palace-b2966743.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buckingham Palace<\/a> responded after President Donald Trump claimed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/bulletin\/news\/king-charles-trump-iran-nuclear-weapons-state-visit-b2966956.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">King Charles agreed with him<\/a> that Iran should not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the royal family are constitutionally required to remain strictly neutral on politics. However, on Tuesday night,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/donald-trump\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Trump<\/a> said the US would never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon \u2013 and surprised guests by suggesting the King shared that view.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCharles agrees with me even more than I do,\u201d Trump said. In his \u200cown comments later, the King did not speak about Iran or the Iran war.<\/p>\n<p>A Palace spokesperson responded: \u201cThe King is naturally mindful of his government&#8217;s long-standing and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11477,10091,10646,11476,10652,6764,6355,529,10642,2181,11479,4870,6767,10643,10651,5809,2863,5,6,37,11478],"class_list":{"0":"post-25563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-911-remembrance","9":"tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","10":"tag-british-royalty","11":"tag-ceremony","12":"tag-charles-iii-of-the-united-kingdom","13":"tag-color-image","14":"tag-horizontal","15":"tag-human-interest","16":"tag-king-royal-person","17":"tag-mayor","18":"tag-michael-bloomberg","19":"tag-new-york-city","20":"tag-photography","21":"tag-queen-royal-person","22":"tag-queen-camilla-of-the-united-kingdom","23":"tag-royalty","24":"tag-state-visit","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116492819793270828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}