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Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV

Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV (Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi; 4 July 1918 – 10 September 2006) was King of Tonga from 1965 until his death in 2006. He was the tallest and heaviest Tongan monarch, weighing 209.5 kg (462 lb) and measuring 196 cm (6 ft 5 in).

Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
Tāufaʻāhau Tupou in 1985
King of Tonga
Reign16 December 1965 – 10 September 2006
Coronation4 July 1967
PredecessorSālote Tupou III
SuccessorGeorge Tupou V
Prime Ministers
See list
10th Prime Minister of Tonga
In office12 December 1949 – 16 December 1965
MonarchSālote Tupou III
PredecessorSolomone Ula Ata
SuccessorPrince Fatafehi Tuʻipelehake
Born(1918-07-04)4 July 1918
Royal Palace, Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
Died10 September 2006(2006-09-10) (aged 88)
Auckland, New Zealand
Burial
Malaʻekula
SpouseHalaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe
Issue
HouseTupou
FatherViliami Tungī Mailefihi
MotherSālote Tupou III
ReligionFree Wesleyan Church

Biography

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The Crown Prince as a student at Newington College

He was born to Viliami Tungī Mailefihi and Queen Sālote Tupou III.[1] His full baptismal name was Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi, but he was soon better known by the traditional title Tupoutoʻa, which was bestowed upon him in 1935 and subsequently became reserved for crown princes of Tonga.[2] This title was supplemented by the one he inherited from his father, Tungī (or using both: Tupoutoʻa Tungī, in that time written as "Tuboutoʻa Tugi"). He kept the Tungī title until his death. From a traditional point of view he was not only the Tungī, which is the direct descendant from the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, but he was also, on becoming king, the 22nd Tuʻi Kanokupolu. The link with the Tuʻi Tonga line, however, was more indirect. He was not a Tuʻi Tonga in his own right (the office having gone over into the Kalaniuvalu line), but his grandmother Lavinia Veiongo (wife of George Tupou II) was the great-granddaughter of Laufilitonga, the last Tuʻi Tonga, and his wife Halaevalu Mataʻaho (not to be confused with the King's wife of the same name and same family), who was the daughter of Tupou ʻAhomeʻe, who was the daughter of Lātūfuipeka, the Tamahā (sister of the Tuʻi Tonga). By consequence, the King's daughter, Pilolevu, was the first Tongan woman to descend from the bloodlines of the three major royal dynasties and become the highest-ranking person ever.

Tāufaʻāhau was a keen sportsman and religious preacher in his youth. He was educated at Newington College[3] and studied law at Sydney University while resident at Wesley College in Sydney, Australia. His graduation from Sydney University was described as the first of any Tongan.[4][5] He was appointed minister of education by Queen Sālote in 1943, minister of health in 1944, and in 1949, premier.[6] During his tenure as education minister, he initiated reforms to standardise the Tongan alphabet.[4]

He remained a lay preacher of the Free Wesleyan Church until his death, and in some circumstances, was empowered to appoint an acting church president.

Reign

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The King with President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, 1976[7]

Tāufaʻāhau became King of Tonga on the death of his mother in 1965. His coronation took place on 4 July 1967, his 49th birthday, in Nukuʻalofa, with dignitaries including the Duke of Kent and New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake in attendance.[8][4] He visited many far-flung countries during his reign.[9]

At one point in the 1970s, he was the heaviest monarch in the world, weighing in at 209.5 kg (462 lb).[10] For his visits to Germany, the German government used to commission special chairs that could support his weight. The King used to take them home, considering them as state presents.[citation needed] He was also very tall, standing at 196 cm (6 ft 5 in).[11][12] Swedish shoemaker Per-Enok Kero reported that he "weighed 180 kilos and had shoe size 47 in length and 52 in breadth."[13] In the 1990s, he took part in a national fitness campaign, losing a third of his weight.[14]

In the 1980s, his government adopted a tone of appeasement towards France in its Pacific nuclear tests at Moruroa, which he visited at the invitation of Gaston Flosse. When he was questioned by a journalist on this issue, the king said that "if France considered [the tests] necessary for its defence it was a choice which must be respected". His government's position put Tonga at odds with other Pacific countries which publicly opposed the conduction of the nuclear tests.[15]

He wielded great political authority and influence in Tonga's essentially aristocratic system of government, together with the country's nobles, who controlled seventy per cent of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga at the time. His involvement in an investment scandal in 2001, involving his American financial advisor Jesse Bogdonoff, led to calls for greater government transparency and democratisation. The fact he had previously appointed Bogdonoff the official court jester, though likely only done as a joke for Bogdonoff's birthday which happened to fall on 1 April (April Fools' Day), compounded the scandal's embarrassment.[16][17]

The king himself had dismissed calls for a democratisation of the system, pointing to political crises in neighbouring Fiji.[5] In 2004, he was named a press freedom predator by Reporters Without Borders, a move which was criticised by the owner of an independent newspaper in Tonga.[18]

In 2005, the government spent several weeks negotiating with striking civil service workers before reaching a settlement. The king's nephew, ʻUluvalu (the 6th Tuʻipelehake), served as mediator. A constitutional commission presented a series of recommendations for constitutional reform to the King a few weeks before his death.[19]

Death and funeral

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On 15 August 2006, Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele interrupted radio and television broadcasts to announce the king was gravely ill in the Mercy Hospital in Auckland and to ask the 104,000 people of the island chain to pray for their monarch.[20][21] He died 26 days later, on 10 September 2006 at 23:34 NZST.[a][22] He was 88 and had reigned for nearly 41 years, making him the fourth-longest serving head of state at the time, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, Queen Elizabeth II, and Samoa's head of state, Malietoa Tanumafili II. He was succeeded by his eldest son, George Tupou V.[23][24][25]

The king was buried on 19 September 2006 at Malaʻekula, the royal cemetery in Tongatapu. Thousands of Tongans watched the funeral, which blended Christian and ancient Polynesian burial rites. The funeral was overseen by the royal undertaker and his men, known as the nima tapu. Mourners included many foreign dignitaries, including Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Fijian Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, Vanuatu president Kalkot Mataskelekele, American Samoan Governor Togiola Tulafono, Niue Premier Vivian Young, and the Duke of Gloucester, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.[26][27][28][29]

Marriage and children

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He married a distant relative, Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe (1926–2017), on 10 June 1947, during a double nuptial ceremony with his brother Prince Fatafehi Tuʻipelehake.[30] The couple had four children:

  • King George Tupou V (Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou; 1948–2012), better known during his tenure as heir by the hereditary title Tupoutoʻa.
  • Princess Royal Salote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita (née Tukuʻaho; born 1951); Lady Tuita by marriage.
  • Prince Fatafehi ʻAlaivahamamaʻo Tukuʻaho (1954–2004); stripped of his title after marrying a commoner, later bestowed with the hereditary title of Māʻatu.
  • King Tupou VI (ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 1959), known prior to his ascension to the throne by his hereditary titles: ʻUlukālala Lavaka Ata, then after his elder brother's ascension, Tupoutoʻa Lavaka. As his brother died without legitimate issue, he became king in 2012.

Honours

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2 paʻanga coin commemorating Tāufaʻāhau Tupou's coronation in 1967.

National

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Foreign

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Namesakes

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Family tree

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Notes

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  1. ^ 00:34 (UTC+13:00) on 11 September in Tonga; the time there was an hour ahead of New Zealand's.

References

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  1. ^ Eustis, Nelson (1997). The King of Tonga: A Biography. Adelaide: Hobby Investment. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-646-33077-8. OCLC 38837175.
  2. ^ Marcus, George E. (1978). "The nobility and the chiefly tradition in the modern Kingdom of Tonga". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 87 (1): 1–73. ISSN 0032-4000.
  3. ^ "The Crown Prince of Tonga, Taufa'ahau". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. VI, no. 5. 20 December 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 17 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ a b c Cowell, Roger (19 September 2006). "King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b Gibson, Joel (19 September 2006). "Huge monarch with grand ideas". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  6. ^ "King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV Of Tonga". The Independent. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  7. ^ "India-Tonga: Old friends, new engagements". Gateway House. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  8. ^ "The Coronation of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  9. ^ "In sleepy Tonga, life... ..hugs the slow lane". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. 27 June 1980. p. 18. Retrieved 17 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga". The Times. 12 September 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  11. ^ "King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV". The Daily Telegraph. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  12. ^ "A far-sighted monarch". The New Zealand Herald. 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  13. ^ "A Rather Special Order". Kero.se. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Tongan King Tupou IV dies at 88". BBC News. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  15. ^ Huffer, Elise (1993). Grands hommes et petites îles: la politique extérieure de Fidji, de Tonga, et du Vanuatu. Collection Etudes et thèses (in French). Paris: ORSTOM. pp. 249–250. ISBN 978-2-7099-1125-2.
  16. ^ "The Money Is All Gone in Tonga, And the Jester's Role Was No Joke". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. 7 October 2001. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  17. ^ "Tonga's 'court jester' scandal no laughing matter". CNN. 3 October 2001. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  18. ^ "Tongan King defended in media row allegation". RNZ. 11 May 2004. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  19. ^ Jones, Hannah (4 November 2010). "Tongan public servants strike for higher wages, 2005". Global Nonviolent Action Database. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  20. ^ "Tongans urged to pray for dying King". Matangi Tonga. 15 August 2006. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2006.
  21. ^ Trevett, Claire; Gregory, Angela (16 August 2006). "Tongans praying for their King". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  22. ^ "King's body to lie in state". The New Zealand Herald. 11 September 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  23. ^ The king's death as reported on Fijian TV on YouTube
  24. ^ Downes, Lawrence. "The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  25. ^ "Royalty, dignitaries in Tonga gather for king's funeral". International Herald Tribune. 18 September 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2006.
  26. ^ "Tongan royal mourning is broken". BBC News. 28 December 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  27. ^ "Funeral of Tonga's King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV". ABC. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  28. ^ "Fiji and American Samoa representatives to attend Tongan King's funeral". RNZ. 14 September 2006. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  29. ^ "1,000 pallbearers carry Tonga king to his grave". NBC News. Reuters. 19 September 2006. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  30. ^ "DOUBLE WEDDING OF TONGAN PRINCES". Pacific Islands Monthly. Vol. XVII, no. 12. 18 July 1947. p. 13. Retrieved 18 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  31. ^ to:File:Taufa Tupou 4.jpg
  32. ^ "Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip pose with members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police during a tour of Canada, October 1977. Photos and Images". Getty Images. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  33. ^ "jeanpaulleblanc Resources and Information". Jeanpaulleblanc.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  34. ^ "Photographic image" (JPG). Fadlmedia.s3.amazonaws.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  35. ^ "1979: West Germany's Generous Offer". Mic.gov.to. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  36. ^ "ORDRE DE TAHITI NUI: LISTE DES TITULAIRES". Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  37. ^ "Tonga Royalty Posing With Japanese Leaders". Getty Images. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  38. ^ "Hu Jintao Meets with Tongan King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV". Fmprc.gov.cn. 19 October 2004. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  39. ^ a b c "Photographic image" (GIF). 38.media.tumblr.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  40. ^ "Photographic image" (JPG). Itre.cis.upenn.edu. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
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Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
Born: 4 July 1918 Died: 10 September 2006
Titles of nobility
Preceded by 2nd Chief Tupoutoʻa[citation needed]
1936–1966 		Succeeded by
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Tonga
1965–2006 		Succeeded by
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