NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani says he would ask King Charles to return Kohinoor to India | EUROtoday

New York City’s mayor says he would urge the King to return a long-disputed crown jewel to India in the event that they spoke privately.

Zohran Mamdani was amongst dignitaries who met the King and Queen at a ceremony within the metropolis on Wednesday commemorating victims of the September 11, 2001 assault on the town by al Qaeda.

As a part of their four-day state go to to the United States, the royal couple visited the National 9/11 Memorial in decrease Manhattan, the place Charles laid flowers.

Mr Mamdani advised reporters earlier than the occasion: “If I were to speak to the king separately from that, I’d probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-noor diamond.”

The Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is among the largest-cut diamonds on the earth, was mined in India and dates again to at the least the seventeenth century. The Indian authorities has demanded its return from Britain a number of occasions since independence in 1947.

Once owned by Queen Victoria, it’s a part of the British Crown Jewels and displayed within the Tower of London. It is alleged to be priceless.

In 1849, with India underneath colonial rule, the British East India Company pressured the 10-year-old son of the Indian royal household to surrender possession of the Koh-i-Noor. India’s most up-to-date request for it was in 2016.

Twice in three days after being requested about any message he want to ship to the royal couple at Ground Zero, Mr Mamdani omitted them from his preliminary reply.

“I’ll 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,” he stated. “And that is really what I’m looking to do at that event.”

A spokesperson for the royal household declined to reply to Mr Mamdani’s remarks, in accordance with Politico. The Independent has requested Buckingham Palace to remark.

Earlier, Buckingham Palace responded after President Donald Trump claimed that King Charles agreed with him that Iran shouldn’t be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Members of the royal household are constitutionally required to stay strictly impartial on politics. However, on Tuesday night time, Trump stated the US would by no means enable Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon – and shocked visitors by suggesting the King shared that view.

“Charles agrees with me even more than I do,” Trump stated. In his ‌personal feedback later, the King didn’t talk about Iran or the Iran battle.

A Palace spokesperson responded: “The King is naturally mindful of his government’s long-standing and well-known position on the prevention of nuclear proliferation.”