All language subtitles for Stuff.The.British.Stole.S01E01.480p.x264-mSD.Eng

ever been
in a museum or gallery,

Surrounded by treasures,
and thought to yourself,

"this is nice."

But what is the story
of how it got here?

That's a good question.
That's also a hard question.

It's a bit of a mystery.

Ooh, it's...

That is a bit of a debate.
Um...

In the days of the british
empire, objects were taken.

Objects that tell us
about who we are,

And how we ended up with
the world we have today.

These artworks, jewels,
sacred artefacts,

Usually ended up
in impressive galleries

With polite little plaques.

But the truth
of how they got there

Is rarely so polite.

why is this artefact
here and not in china?

Like, explain.

today, it would absolutely
be considered a crime.

official records
call it a gift.

That's just an absolute
load of horse shit.

My name is marc fennell,

And I want to take you
around the globe.

Oh, wow!

And back through time.

Because this history has
shaped billions of lives.

history is messy.

There is no such thing
as a kind of,

Simple and straightforward,
clean narrative.

there's always two parts
to every story,

And we only ever hear
the victors' part, you know?

This is the story
of you and me...

And everyone around the world

Living in the wake
of the british empire.

And it begins with something
in the tower of london.

In the british crown jewels,
there's a diamond.

It's been fought over,
it's been sued over.

Some even say it's cursed.

But the real question is this.

Was it stolen?

in the tiny
town of elveden,

Just two hours
outside of london,

Is something that feels

Like it shouldn't be here.

It's the grave
of an indian prince.

The maharajah
duleep singh.

I'm here because
he once owned

That diamond
in the tower of london.

This is the mystery
of a disappearing kingdom,

-A queen...

...And a boy who suffered
an incredible loss.

But the best clues
as to who that boy really was

Lie behind the doors of a very
unassuming london house.

-Hi.
-Hello, marc, how are you?

This is an incredible
collection.

This is...

-This is amazing.
-Oh, thank you.

How long have you been
amassing all of this?

Oh, over 20 years now.

Twenty years.

It's incredible.

this is the home
of peter bance.

A historian and collector,

He's made it his mission
to piece together

The story of that diamond

And maharajah duleep singh.

maharajah duleep singh was

The last maharajah
of the punjab,

Destined to be the ruler

Of one of the greatest empires

In the indian subcontinent.

the sikh,
or punjab empire,

A vast kingdom that's roughly
the same size as britain,

Land that's now partially
in india,

Partially in pakistan,

Led by this man,
duleep singh.

- oh my word.

For all intents and purposes,
peter's house

Is a shrine
to a long-lost ruler.

But why collect
all of this?

I'm born in london,
so I'm third-generation.

My grandfather came
to london in 1936,

Before the independence
of india.

The history of duleep singh
interested me because

It was the history of punjab,
and at that time of my life,

I'd never been to india.

The interest in history
making me want to go back

And find out more,
so I do that

Searching into my roots.

That's why I do this.

I'm half indian,

Half irish from australia,

And I know nothing about
family history,

And I'm, I'm almost
kind of envious,

When I meet people like you,
who actually have

Taken the time and the years
to acquire this stuff.

-'cause it says something.
-Yeah.

It says that you are looking
for something.

And what he's found
is a mixture of surreal

And, at least for me,
occasionally quite familiar.

Although it's empty,
you can still smell...

Oh, wow. It smells like
my auntie's place growing up.

that's incredible. Wow.

These are fragments
of a story

All leading up to this,

One of the world's
largest cut diamonds.

It's called the koh-I-noor,
the "mountain of light."

It was a token of wealth.

So, whoever possessed
the koh-I-noor

Had that power,
had that wealth.

It was a status symbol.

A symbol worn
by duleep's father,

This feared sikh leader,
ranjit singh,

Who dies

Leaving behind a brutal
and divided royal court.

And it's into that arena

That a 5-year-old boy, duleep,
ascends to the throne.

But, there is a bigger threat
surrounding the punjab.

An army of thousands,

Belonging to one of the most
powerful corporations

The world has ever known.

A trading and military force

Called the british
east india company.

The majority of india,
by that time,

Was under the control of
the british east india company,

And the punjab
was that last piece,

Which was not
in their possession,

And it was one of
the last independent kingdoms.

And they knew during the
lifetime of duleep's father,

That they could not touch it,

Because he was just
too powerful.

And they must have seen
duleep singh, and went,

-"now's the time."
-yeah.

and so
begins horrific wars

Between the sikhs
and the british.

That, combined with
internal strife,

Culminates for the child leader
in the spring of 1849.

The victorious british

Usher the young maharajah
into lahore fort

To sign a treaty.

How old is he
when all that happens?

He was around 11 years old.

I don't think
he would've known much.

You know,
he would've just been told

What to do, and he
would've just done it.

The reality would not
have kicked in

Until much later,

And it did kick in
much later in life

When he realised
what he had lost.

What about the diamond?

What happens with
the diamond after that moment?

There's several objects
within this treaty

Which are to be handed over
to the crown,

Which includes
the koh-I-noor diamond.

and so the
british east india company

Quietly sneaked the diamond
onto a boat

Steaming to britain.

But how does it end up
in the crown jewels,

And why isn't there a plaque
next to it saying,

"hey we took this
from a child."

It turns out,
I'm not the only one

Asking these questions.

when we go and see
the koh-I-noor diamond,

It's being shown as
this treasure,

This jewel, this part
of the crown jewels.

Like, you don't actually get
any of the history

Of how it came here,

The way that it's been
sort of used,

And translated
and transformed over time.

You really only have

Its kind of current position
and its current power.

and that is where

A person like alice procter
steps in.

Alice is an art historian

Who specialises in

Let's call them
"contested artefacts,"

The sort taken from
britain's many colonies.

diamonds are something
that are fairly portable,

And so if you are a powerful
military officer,

Kind of powerful
colonial figure,

And you want
to come back to britain,

You can't necessarily
show people

The fort that you built.

You can't show people
the amount of land

That you annexed
or colonised or whatever.

And so you have to find
some way of, like,

Showing that wealth
and showing that power.

And diamonds
and other precious stones

Are a really, really
good way of doing that.

but this is
no ordinary diamond.

The mountain of light
was sent here

For a very special recipient.

The queen herself, victoria.

But what nobody expected

Was how this
particular diamond

Would help change
this city forever.

-Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you too.

rav singh is
a sikh history researcher

Who reckons the best way

To understand the story
of the diamond

Is on foot, walking
the streets of london.

Because this city has
actually been reshaped

By the existence
of this diamond.

See after it arrived
here in london,

They actually
put it on show,

As part of a huge event

Called
"the great exhibition."

so
the great exhibition of 1851

Was to showcase
the great victorian age.

One hundred thousand items

From across the empire
and across the world,

10 miles of galleries
in hyde park

In a constructed
glass palace.

And at the centre,

The centrepiece
of this great exhibition,

Is the koh-I-noor diamond.

there's all of this hype

About how it's going to be
the jewel in the crown.

so the queues
were forming,

You know, to see
the koh-I-noor.

And it's in, like,
this birdcage.

And it has velvet
underneath it.

Now, the europeans had heard
about this diamond

Being the "mountain of light."

And then what would happen is,
you'd get to the front

And you'd expect it to sparkle.

Diamonds sparkle, right?
That's what they do.

You go up to it and you see it,

And it doesn't sparkle.

this was not good.

When we think of diamonds,
we're usually thinking about

These kind of big, shiny,
multifaceted stones,

And the european cuts

Are all about getting
as much light

Reflecting off them
as possible.

It's a large,
egg-shaped oval diamond

With few facets.

To make it sparkle, you need
facets to refract light.

So fair to say,

It didn't impress
a european audience.

and so it was decided
that this indian diamond

Would be sliced to a fraction
of its original size.

New facets added to truly
reflect

The glory of
the british empire,

And it becomes this.

A brooch, worn by
queen victoria herself.

Now, the diamond
may have shrunk,

But the exhibition itself,
that made tons of money.

It was very, very
successful.

It made a profit
of £186,000,

Which must be the
equivalent of millions today.

And all of that money, all of
that revenue that was raised,

Was used to create museums
that we see today.

everywhere
in this city,

You can see the profits
of the exhibition

And its star attraction.

the natural
history museum,

The science museum,

The victoria
and albert museum,

The imperial college

Of science, technology
and medicine,

And later,
the royal albert hall...

The royal college
of music.

The legacy of that exhibition

Was this huge cultural quarter.

So, the most important sort of
cultural locations in this city

Were built with proceeds...

from...

A diamond taken from a kid.

so that's
the diamond.

But what happened
to that boy

Who surrendered it
back in the punjab?

so, duleep singh is
taken away from the punjab.

And then, in 1854,
he travels to london,

And he's given
an instant audience

With queen victoria,

Who takes an instant
liking to him.

She allows him to mingle
with the royal family.

He even holidays
with the family.

somehow duleep singh
ends up being

This beloved sort of
pseudo-adopted son

Of queen victoria.

well, he's a very
handsome-looking young man,

Very exotic.

And he becomes that,
that party piece

That she can have at her formal
and her royal functions,

And show him off as one of
the princes of her colonies.

And again,
there's some really uneven

And nasty power dynamics there,

That she has this kind of
control over him.

and that relationship
gets even more complicated

With the diamond.

There is this incredible scene

When duleep singh
is 16 years old.

He's in the court of victoria.

He's having
his portrait painted.

And then the queen
ushers him over.

She has this box.

She opens up the box

And there is the diamond.

This is the first time
that he's seen it

Since he signed it away
as a child.

And so duleep singh,
he takes the diamond

And he holds it up
to the window.

People don't know
what he's going to do.

They think he might
throw it out the window

In a fit of rage.

All these emotions
pass through his face.

And instead,
what he does is,

He takes the diamond

And he places it in
victoria's hand.

A diamond he doesn't own

Into the palm of a woman
his entire future depends on.

And he gives it to her
as a gift.

And that was the last time
that duleep singh

Or any of his descendants
would ever hold the diamond.

with all of
these power dynamics at play,

Can you really call
the koh-I-noor a gift?

It's a gift in the sense that
it is freely given.

It's not stolen.

It is handed over from
one owner to another.

But that's done under

These incredibly coercive
circumstances, right?

He is still a kid.

He is not, like,
able to make

These kind of important
decisions for himself.

So, yes, it's a gift,

But it's a gift from a child.

You can't forget that.

Like, you can't get away
from the fact that

He's a kid
when all of this is happening.

so when you
lay all of it out,

Who really should
own the diamond?

I think
it should stay where it is

Mainly because that's where
most people can see it.

I think it's
in the right place for it.

not every indian

Sees the plight
of the diamond the same way,

Especially this guy.

This is indian-born
author and historian

Zareer masani.

And as far
as he's concerned,

The diamond is exactly
where it should be.

I think it belongs
to the world, really.

It's changed hands
so many times,

It doesn't belong to
any one country

And none of these countries
are directly descended

From anyone
who mined the diamond

Or directly owned it.

the thing is,
zareer kind of has a point.

The history of the diamond
before britain,

Before duleep singh, is,

Well, it's messy.

What do you reckon
most people get wrong

About the koh-I-noor diamond?

That it was somehow stolen

By the british

From this sikh child

Without understanding

That it's been stolen many times

Over the last
two or three centuries.

historians
mostly agree

That the diamond was
originally mined in india.

But then it was looted,
it was stolen,

It was traded by rulers
right across the subcontinent.

It's sort of
totally anachronistic

To try and apply
notions of theft

To something like
the koh-I-noor diamond

Which has been a trophy of war
for hundreds of years.

nations
around the world,

India and pakistan
in particular,

Have asked for
the diamond back.

What do you make
of their claims?

I mean, I think they've got
as much claim

As anyone else does, right?

The history of
an object like this one

Where it's changed hands
so many times

And it's moved so much

Means that we're always
looking for

The kind of most recent
or most legitimate claim,

And that's a really messy
and impossible thing.

What do you think should
happen with the diamond?

Oh, it's...

It's quite a controversial
subject

Because, yes, it should
go back, but to who?

That's the argument we have.

- who indeed?

Welcome to toronto, canada.

my family's desire?

That koh-I-noor,
it belongs to the sikhs.

It belongs to
maharajah duleep singh.

And we want, or I demand,

That the koh-I-noor be
returned to the sikhs.

damandeep
singh sandhanwalia

Is one of dozens of relatives
of duleep singh

Sprinkled throughout
the global sikh diaspora.

do you regard
the koh-I-noor as stolen?

Indeed, actually.

So, koh-I-noor was robbed
from a boy child,

And he was cut off
from his relatives.

He was cut off
from his people.

yes, that is the other
part of duleep singh's story.

In 1847,

The british removed
duleep singh's mother,

Maharani jind kaur.

-they imprisoned her.

Duleep singh
was only nine years old

When his mum
was taken from him.

Did duleep singh ever ask
for the koh-I-noor back?

Yes, indeed.

In the later years,

Maharajah duleep singh wrote
to queen victoria.

He says you have forcibly
taken away my kingdom,

My empire, and I also ask
that the koh-I-noor,

Which is in
your personal possession,

I ask that
you give it back to me,

Which was stolen from me.

And he says that,

I know you have loved me

But this is something
that I own,

And I want it back.

What did she do?

She didn't reply, of course.

in time,
the relationship

Between the exiled maharajah
and the british

Begins to sour.

He ends up declaring

His intention to return
to the punjab,

But duleep singh
never makes it.

Concerned he'll attempt
to reclaim his throne,

The british stop him
and he ends up back in europe.

He dies in 1893 in paris.

He has an epileptic fit.

He's found...

Days later.

And sadly, a man
who was destined

To be the ruler

Of one of the greatest kingdoms
in the indian subcontinent

Dies all alone, penniless,

As a pauper in
a shabby hotel room in paris.

after the death
of duleep singh,

His body was brought back
to England and buried here,

The last maharajah
of the punjab kingdom.

how do you feel
about duleep singh?

well, the way I look
at the maharajah is that

He was a puppet
throughout his life.

So, his destiny
was never in his hands.

I can sum his life up in one
word, which is "tragic,"

Because I really do
feel sorry for him.

Historians say it was tragic.

I would say
it was revolutionary.

He was not left with anything.

He was-- his entire wealth
was gone.

But he died an honest man.

He died like a revolutionary.
A fighter.

I see through maharajah
duleep singh's writings

His spirit, his,
his courageousness,

His, his fight for
the freedom of punjab.

I see that.

in time, the diamond
was placed in this crown.

It was last worn by
the late queen mother,

And it's now on show
in the tower of london.

millions of people

Go past that diamond
every year.

What's the story you think
they should know about it?

I mean, I think they should
at least understand

That it has this kind of
violent, complex history.

Do you think this country
is prepared to have

That conversation
about its impact

As an empire around the world?

No.

It's nowhere near,

Nowhere near that point yet.

I think we're a long way away
from a kind of full

And free acknowledgement.

for me, it's very
emotive for every punjabi,

Every sikh.

You know,
it reflected an empire.

Most people don't even know
that we had an empire.

You know, most people think
india is just one country,

And don't realise
it was actually

Lots of different empires,

Lots of different cultures.

And it was really the british
that made it into one entity

Because it was
good for business.

Koh-I-noor, for us in punjab,

Is reflective
of our history, you know,

And it tells a story
when we were

At a height of our kingdom.

you'd be amazed
how uncoordinated I am.

Peter has invited me

To his gurdwara, temple,

For sikh new year

To show me an answer

To a question
I asked earlier.

Why invest
so much time and energy

In collecting and telling

The story of
the last sikh emperor?

thank you.

This is why he does it.
This community.

it's very important
that the next generation,

Not only punjabis and sikhs,

But also the next
generation in britain,

Know about the joint history,
because it is a joint

Anglo-indian history.

So knowing where you come from,
your roots, and the mistakes,

And whatever you've made
in the past,

That's the only way
you can rectify them

And work towards
a more positive future.

Duleep singh may have had
a sikh empire

Taken from him as a child.

But in death, sikhs around
the world have reclaimed him.

And as for the future

Of the koh-I-noor
diamond itself?

If it's never given back,
will it be a failure?

never.

We sikhs never see defeat

As a defeat.

We see it that

We may have lost,

But we are not defeated.

So even if the koh-I-noor
is never returned,

We will always ask for it.

Even if the coming generations

Continue to lose the fight
for koh-I-noor,

We will still not be defeated.

Because in our spirits,

In our mind, in our heart,

We are always fighting
for our cause.