In order to make the battle between crown and power a unique symbol of power in the world, the royal families of all dynasties have tried their best to collect diamonds and jewels, believing that rare diamonds can best reflect the dignity of the royal family. The course of collecting diamonds for centuries has gradually formed the most famous family treasure in the world. The crowns worn by the early great kings and queens have been lost. The king and his relatives had to sell many treasures in order to wage war, rebuild the palace destroyed by fire and hold a royal wedding. In the Middle Ages, kings usually carried royal treasures with them in battle because they didn't trust their relatives who stayed in the palace. The anti-kingship movement that broke out in England from 65438 to 0648 had a great influence on the British royal family, and many precious crowns and power struggles were lost. 1660 after the restoration of the British royal family, a large-scale project to rebuild the crown and power began. Since then, many rare treasures have been preserved. With the development of the royal family, since the18th century, the British royal family has had specialized jewelers who have produced the most exquisite jewelry with extraordinary skills.
With the continuous expansion of power, Britain has become the most powerful colonial empire in the world. Among them, colonial India and South Africa were famous for producing diamonds and precious stones, and these two places supplied countless first-class diamonds to the British royal family. And some small and weak countries are also willing to give their most precious jewels to Britain, mostly with the idea of breaking money and avoiding disasters.
Members of the royal family are very used to exchanging jewels. A sapphire, which should have been embedded in the ring worn by King Edward VII when he entered the coffin, now shines on the "Crown of the Empire". This crown is also inlaid with two strings of pearls, which are said to be worn by Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, when she was beheaded in 1587. /kloc-Queen Victoria, the monarch of the 0/9th century, was particularly keen on collecting jewels. She was intoxicated with the treasures collected from all over the empire. Among her treasures is a thumb-sized Indian diamond called "Mountain of Light", which is the oldest diamond found so far. 1304 was discovered in India, and the original weight was 19 1 carat. Later, Queen Victoria felt that it was not shiny enough and needed to be reworked, only 108.83 carats. It is this diamond embedded in the queen's crown that inspired Wilkie Collins to create the classic Moon Stone.
However, the "Mountain of Light" is also dwarfed by the "Star of Africa", the largest diamond in history. 1905, an original diamond mine weighing 3 106 carats was discovered in South Africa. The newly opened transatlantic cable quickly spread the news all over the world. At that time, experts in the gem industry estimated that the value of the original diamond was as high as $7.5 billion. As South Africa was a British colony at that time, everyone agreed to transport it to London and dedicate it to King Edward VII. This unique treasure has aroused the imagination of jewelry thieves all over the world, and the relevant personnel have spent several months thinking about how to ensure transportation safety. Finally, Scotland Yard decided that the best principle was "the simpler the safer". Diamonds as big as eggplant were mailed in an unmarked package and appeared in the royal mail bag of Buckingham Palace a month later. On February 1908 and 10, this giant diamond was cut into several pieces for processing. The total amount of finished diamonds processed is 1063.65 carats, all of which are owned by the British royal family. The largest diamond is named "Cullinan 1", also known as "Star of Africa", weighing 530.02 carats. The second largest is named "Cullinan 2" and weighs 3 17.4 carats. Now the egg-sized "Star of Africa" is embedded in the top of the king's scepter, which has 2444 diamonds. Cullinan II, the size of pigeon eggs, is embedded in the most important crown of the British royal family-the Imperial Crown. The history of human exploitation and utilization of diamonds has been nearly a thousand years, but diamonds larger than 20 carats are extremely rare, and diamonds larger than 100 carats are regarded as national treasures. But there are several such national treasures in the collection of the British royal family.
Now the royal family is no longer blindly pursuing to concentrate all the biggest diamonds on the crown. You know, when King William IV was crowned in 1830, he played a joke and failed to enjoy himself. The luxurious monarch insisted on setting all diamonds and precious stones in the crown. As a result, the crown was too heavy, and the king had a sharp pain in his neck, so he had to interrupt the coronation ceremony and then pull out a molar.
The British royal family owns 22,599 gems and jewels, but the actual value is difficult to count.
British royal jewels rank second among the top ten treasures in the world because they represent the dignity and tradition of the oldest royal family.