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Actor Margot Robbie turned heads at the Los Angeles premiere of her upcoming film Wuthering Heights, but it wasn’t just her couture gown that had people talking. The real showstopper was a piece of jewellery steeped in Mughal history: Empress Nur Jahan’s legendary Taj Mahal Diamond necklace.

Set for release on February 13, Wuthering Heights — starring Robbie alongside Jacob Elordi — reimagines Emily Brontë’s gothic romance against the brooding Yorkshire moors. Styled by Andrew Mukamal, Robbie wore a custom Schiaparelli couture gown featuring a lace-structured strapless bodice and a flowing petal skirt fading from onyx to red.

Paired with the gown was the evening’s most arresting detail: an opulent heart-shaped pendant mounted in jade and suspended from a custom gold, ruby and diamond chain. As Vogue reported, the necklace bears an inscription in Farsi (Persian) reading “Love is Everlasting,” alongside the name of Nur Jahan. The jewel was originally gifted by Mughal Emperor Jehangir to his wife as a symbol of devotion that has travelled centuries to land on a modern red carpet.

Robbie’s choice felt deliberate, echoing the grandeur of Old Hollywood romances. The same necklace was famously gifted to Elizabeth Taylor by her fifth husband, Richard Burton, more than five decades ago — another love story marked by excess, intensity and spectacle, NDTV noted.

How did a Mughal heirloom make its way to Margot Robbie?

The heart-shaped, table-cut diamond is believed to have first belonged to Empress Nur Jahan before being passed down to Empress Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It’s close association with the Mughals led to the jewel being called the Taj Mahal Diamond.

Centuries later, the piece was acquired by Cartier. Originally strung on a traditional Indian silk cord, it was later reimagined by Cartier designer Alfred Durante, who created a gold and ruby chain adorned with rondelles and tassels. In 1972, Cartier president Michael Thomas presented the necklace to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at New York’s Kennedy Airport International Hotel, after Burton sought Valentine’s Day and birthday gift ideas.

Thomas later recalled Taylor’s reaction: “I love this — tell me more about it.”

Burton waited before purchasing the piece, eventually surprising Taylor with it during an extravagant birthday weekend in Budapest while filming Bluebeard, according to NDTV.

The necklace went on to make history when it sold for $8.8 million in December 2011 as part of Taylor’s estate, setting a record for Indian jewellery at the time, Vogue reported.

Now, decades later, the Taj Mahal Diamond has resurfaced — not in a museum, but under the flash of cameras — worn by Robbie as a nod to enduring love stories, both fictional and real.