Quite a fickle little thing, the Regent,in 1717,made its way to France, where it snuggled into the band of Louis XV's silver gilt crown (in the Louvre) at his coronation in 1722, then moved to Louis XVI's crown in 1775.
Later in 1801 it featured on the hilt of the First Consul's sword (Fontainebleau, Musée Napoléon 1st), and then flashed around on the Emperor's two-edged sword in 1812.
In 1825 it dazzled on the coronation crown of Charles X, and during the Second Empire, it embellished the "Grecian diadem" of the Empress Eugenie. Now it languishes in Louvre in Paris with some other famous bits and bobs.
Koh-i-Noor (Mountain of Light)
Now part of the British Crown Jewels, the105.60 carats, oval-cut gem,Mountain of Lightdates back to1304, and has the longest history of all the famous diamonds.
It was captured by the Rajahs of Malwa in the sixteenth century by the Mogul Sultan Babur and remained in the possession of later Mogul emperors. Some believe it was set in the famous Peacock Throne made for Shah Jehan, but that after the break-up of the Persian empire, the diamond found its way to India, possibly via Afghanistan with one of Nadir Shah´s bodyguards, who fled with the stone when the Shah was murdered and tried in vain, to buy military help from Ranjit Singh of the Punjab.
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