During the Met Gala which took place last week, Kim Kardashian wore a piece of history. She appeared wearing the dress Marilyn Monroe wore when she sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for US President John F Kennedy in 1962. However, Kim wasn’t the only person wearing a piece of history that day.
According to The Indian Express, YouTuber Emma Chamberlain wore a diamond choker which originally belonged to the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupinder Singh. The choker necklace was made way back in 1928.
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According to ETimes, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was 34 years old when he decided to turn the De Beers diamond (7th largest in the world) into an heirloom piece and commissioned Cartier to make a ceremonial necklace with the diamond as its centrepiece.
The choker then came to be known as the Patiala Necklace. It has 5 rows of platinum chains, 2930 diamonds and some Burmese rubies. Today, the choker would cost somewhere around 30 million USD in its original form.
The diamond was mined from Africa in 1888 and in 1889, The Maharaja had bought it at the Paris Universal Exhibition. In 1948, the necklace went missing from the Patiala Royal Treasury. It was missing for 32 years and then suddenly, the De Beers diamond reappeared at Sotheby’s auction in 1982 without the rest of the necklace.
The rest of the jewellery was later discovered in an antique shop in London. Cartier later bought the necklace and replaced the missing stones with replicas.
The fact that a significant piece of jewellery which has Indian history written all over it was seen on the neck of a foreign celebrity at the Met Gala enraged several people online.
So i just found out emma chamberlain wore the maharaja of patiala’s necklace at the met gala… this is wayyy worse than kim wearing marilyn monroe’s dress. It has a deep and painful history attached to it. Very on theme, nothing screams gilded glamour quite like expropriation pic.twitter.com/XqqHwqusdU
— 🦋 (@arianaspovv) May 7, 2022
so, news just broke out that emma chamberlain wore the maharaja of patiala’s cartier diamond choker to the met gala, and as someone both sikh and punjabi, it doesn’t sit right with me. it was stolen, “re-acquired” by cartier, sure. [1]
— bela lugosi (@valovife) May 7, 2022
The height of privilege to be able to flaunt stolen goods on the global stage. Jewels stolen from Panjab resurface at the Met Gala in NY.
The fate of the Maharaja of Patiala's Cartier Diamond Choker is unknown, but it was likely sold and reacquired by
Cartier at a later date. pic.twitter.com/qSqRIkVkrT— Tarandeep Singh (@tarandeephora) May 6, 2022
Thanks #cartier. Those are the jewels of the Maharaja of Patiala. That’s a piece of India’s stolen history, not a fancy piece of jewellery to lend out to celebrities. Disrespectful on so many levels. pic.twitter.com/KhK5LPexaj
— Shriya Zamindar (@shriyazamindar) May 7, 2022
That the necklace “disappeared” in 1948 immediately after the Colonists left is suspect in itself! And that it was “found” in London speaks volumes about the theft of so much of Indian treasures! That Queen & family still wear Kohinoor shamelessly is proof! https://t.co/6xjWUdW3IT
— Bengal Tiger 🇮🇳🇺🇸🇮🇹🇫🇷 (@bengaltigre) May 10, 2022
While we are talking about Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress can we talk please also talk about how Emma Chamberlain literally wore Maharaja Of Patiala’s Cartier Diamond Choker pic.twitter.com/nrD6dUWS7Y
— popreset (@popreset_) May 7, 2022
Patiala Necklace which was designed by the French luxury jewellery company, Cartier.
The Maharaja was 34 when he decided to turn the ‘De Beers diamond’ into an heirloom piece & commissioned Cartier to make a ceremonial necklace with the ‘De Beers diamond’ being its centrepiece. pic.twitter.com/jD4thltb4A
— Vशुद्धि (@V_Shuddhi) May 6, 2022
Its still unnerving to me, as a desi punjabi girl, how Emna Chamberlain was gifted and wearing that Cartier necklace that was stolen from a punjabi maharaja as a result of british colonialism like I didn't know we were keeping *THAT* much on theme of the Gilded Age
— Zainab⁷ 💜 10.06.2022 7M PREORDERS (@MYTlMEMOTSONEJK) May 10, 2022
What are your views on this?