Charles feted in Washington; NYC mayor says he would urge return of Koh-i-Noor if they spoke

A gilded welcome in Washington met a cooler note in New York when the city’s newly installed Democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said that if he and King Charles were to speak, he would probably encourage the monarch to return the Koh‑i‑Noor diamond. The United States pulled out all the stops for the state visit with President Donald Trump.

Dinner was served on plates encrusted with pure gold, the royal family drew lavish praise, and Charles became only the second British monarch to deliver an address to Congress, after Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. In New York on Wednesday (local time), both Charles and Mamdani attended a wreath‑laying ceremony honoring victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

But Mamdani’s office said there would be no private meeting afterward.

His spokesman, Joe Calvello, told the New York Times the mayor was “generally opposed to the idea of a king.” Asked later what he would say to Charles if they spent time together outside the ceremony, Mamdani replied: “I would probably encourage him to return the Koh‑i‑Noor diamond.” Mamdani, born in Uganda to Indian parents who examined colonialism in their work, has spoken on the subject before, including a St Patrick’s Day speech in March referencing Ireland’s resistance to what he called Britain’s “colonial project.” His latest remarks shifted attention from the visit’s pomp to the unsettled question of the Koh‑i‑Noor’s ownership and Britain’s colonial legacy.

Often described as the world’s most expensive diamond, the Koh‑i‑Noor was surrendered by — or stolen from, depending on the account — a young Indian prince and presented to Queen Victoria in 1850. A British royal legend holds that it brings bad luck to any man who wears it.

Today it is mostly on display in the Tower of London, set in the front cross of the Queen Mother’s Crown, and many in India have called for its return for decades. After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, appeals for the gem’s repatriation resurfaced on social media and intensified ahead of Charles’s coronation.

Queen Camilla chose not to wear the crown containing the Koh‑i‑Noor at the ceremony, opting to reuse another instead, apparently in an effort to avoid scrutiny.

Believed to have originated in the Golconda mines in central southern India, the “Mountain of Light” has a long, contested history, passing through the hands of Mughal emperors, Sikh maharajahs and Afghan rulers before ending up with an 11‑year‑old Sikh maharajah in the 19th century.

Mamdani’s comments indicate the subject has not been forgotten even amid a carefully calibrated royal tour.