Sikhs make claim on Royal Collection

The Queen has found herself at the centre of a dispute over treasures allegedly in her possession that were taken from India in the days of the British Raj, Mandrake can disclose.

Tim Walker: Edited by Laura Roberts
Last Updated: 6:49PM BST 25 May 2009

A Sikh group from Slough has written to Her Majesty requesting the return of the property.

Jagdeesh Singh, from the Sikh Community Action Network, tells me: "We have written to the Queen asking for access rights and the eventual return of items such as historic copies of the Sikh national sacred writings, together with swords and weapons of the Sikh gurus."

According to Singh, letters, diaries and writings of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Sikh ruler exiled to Britain in the 19th century, are also part of the collection, some of which is housed at Windsor Castle. He says: "These things were plundered by the British and are now hidden away in various Royal palaces. I am sure that the Queen does not really know what is there and we would like to do a proper inventory."

A spokesmen for the Royal Collection insisted that it did not own any swords or armour relating to Maharaja Duleep Singh, while a colleague at the Royal Archives claimed to have only a number of papers relating to Singh but not his actual writings.

with thanks : source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/5383774/Sikhs-make-claim-on-Royal-Collection.html

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