<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Hours before greeting King Charles III in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked about the royal visit during a news conference in the Bronx.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">The mayor quickly distanced himself, saying that he would be attending a ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum “alongside a number of other elected officials” and that would be the extent of his interaction with the king.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">But what would he say to King Charles if they were to have a private meeting?</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">“I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor Diamond,” Mr. Mamdani said.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">The mayor’s decision to invoke the 105.6-carat diamond — taken from an 11-year-old Indian prince in the 1840s when India was a British colony and presented to Queen Victoria — was in character.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda, also once part of the British Empire, to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/nyregion/zohran-mamdani-parents-mira-nair.html" title="">Indian parents</a> who have helped to shape his political views. His father, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/world/africa/mahmood-mamdani-gaza-war-book.html" title="">Mahmood Mamdani</a>, is a leading scholar of anticolonialism. His mother, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/opinion/zohran-mamdani-mother-movie.html" title="">Mira Nair,</a> is an award-winning filmmaker <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/02/movies/film-one-people-in-two-worlds.html" title="">whose movies have examined the colonial experience</a>. India has lobbied for the diamond, part of the crown jewels in the Tower of London, to be returned.</p><p class="css-ac37hb evys1bk0">Mr. Mamdani is also the city’s first democratic socialist mayor, and he has said his goal is to uplift the city’s working-class residents.</p><div class="css-kbghgg"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171d1bw"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" data-tpl="i" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk" data-tpl="t">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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