Queen Elizabeth’s members of the family had been seen following her coffin on foot in a solemn procession on Wednesday, as her physique was taken from London’s Buckingham Palace to close by Westminster Corridor.

Whereas all eyes had been on King Charles III, Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew throughout the shifting event, one merchandise was arduous to overlook amid the pomp and ceremony—the Imperial State Crown.

Because the physique of the queen, who died September 8, was taken via the streets of London on a gun carriage, the closely bejeweled crown was seen resting atop a velvet cushion on her coffin, which was draped within the Royal Normal.

The crown has grow to be the topic of a lot contentious debate within the days for the reason that sovereign died, because it incorporates the controversial 317-carat Cullinan II diamond, also called the Second Star of Africa. Some on social media have referred to as for the royal household to return the diamond, in addition to the considerably bigger 530.2-carat Cullinan I diamond set atop the Sovereign’s Scepter, to Africa. The latter is estimated to be value $400 million.

The royal household’s possession of the diamonds, amongst different valuable jewels, has been steeped in controversy, given the historical past of British colonialism. The Cullinan diamond was mined in what’s now South Africa in 1905 and was the biggest uncut diamond ever discovered, at 3,106 carats, which is a bit more than 1 pound.

It was offered as a present to King Edward VII after a failure to promote it privately in 1907. The tough diamond was lower into 9 smaller stones, that are among the many jewels for the queen’s personal use.

The diamond was additionally lower into 96 smaller brilliants, with the British monarchy proudly owning quite a lot of them. The stones that made up the Cullinan diamond are valued in whole at $2 billion.

The Imperial State Crown is the principal crown worn by the British sovereign and is saved on the Tower of London together with different regalia utilized in coronations and official ceremonies, such because the sovereign’s scepter and Queen Mary II’s golden orb.

The present state crown was made in 1937 for the queen’s father, King George VI, and relies on the crown made in 1837 for Queen Victoria. It incorporates a few of the British monarchy’s most historic jewels, together with St. Edward’s Sapphire, the oldest gemstone within the assortment. This blue stone has been set into the middle of the crown and is claimed to have belonged to Edward the Confessor, who ascended to the throne in 1042.

In whole, the crown is ready with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls and 4 rubies.

Many of the crown jewels are reserved to be used within the coronation ceremony, however the Imperial State Crown was worn by the queen yearly of her reign for the State Opening of Parliament, till 2017.

In 2019, it was determined that the crown was too heavy for the nonagenarian monarch, and she or he wore the George VI Diamond Diadem as a substitute.

One other of the queen’s jewels, the Koh-i-noor diamond from India, is estimated to be value $400 million. Most likely the world’s most well-known diamond, the Koh-i-noor weighed 105.6 carats when it was present in southern India, probably as early because the 1300s.

It takes satisfaction of place on the high of the crown made for the Queen Mom in 1937. Many individuals have claimed possession of it over the centuries, together with Mughal emperors, shahs of Iran, emirs of Afghanistan and Sikh maharajas.

Britain got here into possession of the Koh-i-noor when the East India Firm took the jewel from deposed 10-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh in 1849. It was a part of the Treaty of Lahore, which declared that it needed to be surrendered to Queen Victoria.

Following this week’s proceedings, Queen Elizabeth II will lie in state in Westminster till subsequent Monday, the day of her funeral. The ceremony will likely be attended by royals and political leaders from around the globe.