The Koh-i-Noor is surrendered

The terms that ended the Sikh kingdom were signed at Lahore on 29 March 1849. Article III reads: "The Gem called the Koh-i-noor, which was taken from Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk by Maharajah Runjeet Sing, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England." Duleep Singh, who signed, was ten. Dalhousie, the Governor-General, arranged the transfer himself.

The diamond left Bombay on HMS Medea on 6 April 1850 and was presented to Victoria on 3 July 1850. It drew crowds at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and disappointed many of them, so in 1852 Garrard's recut it from about 186 old carats to 105.6. It was set in the crowns of Queen Alexandra in 1902, Queen Mary in 1911 and Queen Elizabeth in 1937, and that last crown is in the Tower of London. The annexation itself has its own entry.

The stone has more claimants than any other object in the Crown Jewels. India, Pakistan and Afghanistan have each asked for it, and Britain has refused. In 2018 the Archaeological Survey of India, answering a right-to-information request, said it was surrendered to the British, which is the word the 1849 terms use. Article III settles what was signed and leaves open whether that surrender can be called free.