“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” So wrote Samuel Johnson, the famed 18th Century polymath and founder of the modern English dictionary. And indeed, London offers many delights for the discerning traveller, from the iconic Houses of Parliament and St. Paul’s Cathedral to the theatres of the West End, the fashionable shops of Soho, and the countless world-class museums covering every subject imaginable. But no sojourn to the UK capital is complete without a visit to the Tower of London, the 11th century fortress and palace that has served many functions over the centuries, most infamously as a prison for some of British history’s greatest villains. It is also famously the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Among the centrepieces of this storied collection are the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign’s Sceptre With Cross, worn by British sovereigns during coronations and state openings of parliament. But in addition to their historic symbolic importance and sublime craftsmanship, these pieces have another claim to fame: they are both set with stones cut from the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered: the Cullinan, unearthed in South Africa in 1905. The story of how this massive stone came to reside among the Crown Jewels is a fascinating one, a tale of luck, subterfuge, and Colonial politics at the turn of the 20th Century.

Author: Gilles Messier
Host: Daven Hiskey
Producer: Samuel Avila



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