William Dalrymple: Last News

The British Monarchy is well-known for its wealth of remarkable crowns and jewels - but one diamond in its collection is said to have a dark and cursed history. The Koh-i-Noor diamond, worth an estimated £350m, came from India's Alluvial mines before it fell through the intricacies of Indian Court and eventually came into the possession of British royal family in the mid-1800s.

Naman Ramachandran BAFTA-winning “The Last King of Scotland” writer Jeremy Brock will adapt independent studio Wiip and India’s Roy Kapur Films’ series based on the book “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company” by author and historian William Dalrymple. “The Anarchy” will be mounted as an international co-production between Wiip and Roy Kapur Films to be produced across the U.S., U.K. and India. The book tells the story of how one of the world’s most magnificent empires, the Mughal empire, disintegrated and came to be replaced by the British East India Company – a dangerously unregulated private company based thousands of miles away in a small London office just five windows wide.

British Monarchy is filled with jewels, crowns and bits of bling, but one in particular is said to have a dark and cursed past.The Koh-i-Noor diamond is now valued at £350m and came from India's Alluvial mines before making its way into British possession in the mid-1800s when amateur geologists wrote up its history.In fact the diamond ended up falling through the intricacies of Indian Court and into the British Crown Jewels, with two historians now alleging the story of the jewel involves a fair amount of 'looting'.READ MORE: Strange behaviour of man who waited 14-hours in queue before grabbing Queen's coffinTwo historians, Anita Anand and William Dalrymple, believe the story set out by geologists of the time is "built on a structure of myth," that depends on the Last Treaty of Lahore.That myth appears to be the acquisition of the jewel, which was handed over after a series of contracts were signed during the annexation of Punjab. Add into this an alleged curse surrounding it, which says only women and God can wear it.

Dumfries House, in Ayrshire, Johnny Dumfries, who has passed away. The former F1 star died on Tuesday aged 62, following a recent illness.Johnny's full name was John Colum Crichton-Stuart.

Andreas Wiseman International EditorEXCLUSIVE: Historian William Dalrymple and journalist Anita Anand’s well-received history book Koh-i-Noor: The History Of The World’s Most Infamous Diamond has been optioned for a TV drama series adaptation by Paris, LA and Mumbai-based producers 185 Carat Films.The book charts the winding true story of the Indian diamond, the 27th largest in the world, which is currently part of the British Crown Jewels. The precious stone changed hands between various factions in south and west Asia, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian producer Siddharth Roy Kapur has acquired audio-visual rights to author and historian William Dalrymple’s bestselling novel on colonialism “The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company.”Set during 1599 to 1802, “The Anarchy” traces the ascent of The East India Company against the decline and fall of the Mughal Empire. It provides an account of how a provincial trading start-up, run by thirty people from an office in a nondescript London building, became rulers of an entire sub-continent.“The Anarchy” was recently listed by former U.S.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Siddharth Roy Kapur, former MD of The Walt Disney Company India and current president of the Producers Guild of India, has picked up exclusive screen rights to The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise Of The East India Company, William Dalrymple’s bestselling historical epic.Releasd in 2019, the book encompasses more than 200 years, covering how the infamous East India Company rose to prominence against the decline and fall of the storied Mughal Empire.