Taufa'ahau Tupou IV

āhau Tupou IV
title =King of Tonga


caption =King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV (left) with former Howard Hughes business associate John H. Meier (right)
reign =16 December 1965–10 September 2006
coronation =
predecessor =Sālote Tupou III
successor =Siaosi Tupou V
heir =
consort =Halaevalu Mataokinaaho okinaAhomeokinae, on 10 June 1947
issue =Siaosi Tāufaokinaāhau Manumataongo Tukuokinaaho Tupou
Sālote Mafileokinao Pilolevu Tuita
Fatafehi okinaAlaivahamamaokinao Tukuokinaaho
Tupoutookinaa Lavaka (okinaAhookinaeitu okinaUnuakiokinaotonga Tukuokinaaho)
royal house =Tupou
royal anthem =Ko e fasi okinao e tuokinai okinao e okinaOtu Tonga
father =Viliami Tungī Mailefihi
mother =Sālote Tupou
date of birth =birth date|1918|7|4|df=y
place of birth =Royal Palace, NukuOkinaalofa, Tonga
date of death =death date and age|2006|9|10|1918|7|4|df=y
place of death =Auckland, New Zealand
place of burial=Malaokinae Kula|

Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV, King of Tonga, GCMG, GCVO, KBE, KStJ (4 July 1918 – 10 September 2006) son of Queen Sālote Tupou III and her consort Prince Viliami Tungī Mailefihi, was the king of Tonga from the death of his mother in 1965 until his own death in 2006. He was married to Queen Halaevalu Mataokinaaho okinaAhomeokinae, born in 1926, and the couple had four children:
* Siaosi Tāufaokinaāhau Manumataongo Tukuokinaaho Tupou, while as crown prince better known by the hereditary title: Tupoutookinaa (once his father did not need it any longer). He succeeded him later as George Tupou V.
* Princess Sālote Mafileokinao Pilolevu Tuita (born Tukuokinaaho)
* Ex-prince Fatafehi okinaAlaivahamamaokinao Tukuokinaaho (stripped of his title after marrying a commoner, later bestowed with the hereditary title of Māokinaatu, deceased 2004)
* Prince okinaAhookinaeitu okinaUnuakiokinaotonga Tukuokinaaho better known by his traditional titles: Tupoutookinaa Lavaka (until the death of his father known as: okinaUlukālala Lavaka Ata).

The king's full baptisal name was Siaosi Tāufaokinaāhau Tupoulahi, but he was soon better known by the traditional title reserved for crown princes: Tupoutookinaa, (bestowed in 1937) later replaced by the title he inherited from his father: Tungī (or using both: Tupoutookinaa-Tungī, in that time written as Tuboutookinaa-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 descendent from the Tuokinai Haokinaatakalaua, but he was also, on becoming king, the 22nd Tuokinai Kanokupolu. The link with the Tuokinai Tonga, was more indirect. He was not a Tuokinai Tonga too (as that office has gone over into the Kalaniuvalu line), but his grandmother Lavinia Veiongo (wife of George Tupou II) was the great granddaughter of Laufilitonga, the last Tuokinai Tonga, and his wife Halaevalu Mataokinaaho (not to be confused with the king's wife of the same name and same family), who was the daughter of Tupou okinaAhomeokinae, who was the daughter of Lātūfuipeka, the Tamahā (sister of the Tuokinai Tonga). By consequence, the king's daughter, Pilolevu, was the first woman in Tongan culture to really have the blood of the three major royal dynasties in her veins and become the highest ranking person ever.

The king was a keen sportsman and religious preacher in his youth, he was educated at Newington College and studied Law at Sydney University while resident at Wesley College in Sydney, Australia. He was appointed Minister of Education by Queen Sālote in 1943, Minister of Health in 1944, and in 1949, Premier. 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. In the 1970s he was the heaviest monarch in the world, weighing in at over 200 kg (440 pounds). 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. In the 1990s he took part in a national fitness campaign, losing a third of his weight. [cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5333318.stm|publisher=BBC News |title=Tongan King Tupou IV dies at 88 |accessdate=2006-09-11 |date=2006-09-11]

The King was also quite tall, standing 6' 5". [cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A14608523|publisher=BBC News |title=King Tupou IV dies at 88 |accessdate=2007-06-08 |date=2007-06-08]

He wielded great political authority and influence in Tonga's essentially aristocratic system of government, together with the country's nobles, who control 70% of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. His involvement in an investment scandal, however, involving his appointed court jester Jesse Bogdonoff, had in his last years embroiled the King in controversy, and led to calls for greater government transparency and democratisation. In 2005 the government spent several weeks negotiating with striking civil service workers before reaching a settlement. The king's nephew, Tuokinai Pelehake (okinaUluvalu), served as mediator. A constitutional commission presented a series of recommendations for constitutional reform to the king a few weeks before his death.

On 15 August 2006, Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele interrupted radio and television broadcasts to announce that 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 king, [cite news |url=http://www.matangitonga.to/article/tonganews/royalty/king_tonga150806.shtml |publisher=Matangi Tonga |title=Tongans urged to pray for dying King |date=2006-08-15 |accessdate=2006-08-16] but he died almost a month later, at 23:34 on 10 September 2006 [cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10396530 |publisher=New Zealand Herald |title=King's body to lie in state |accessdate=2006-09-11 |date=2006-09-11] (New Zealand time: it was just after midnight on 11 September in Tongan time). He was 88 and had reigned for 41 years. [ [http://www.youtube.com/v/BXSEUXPs0bU The king's death as reported on Fijian TV] [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/10/asia/AS_GEN_Tonga_New_King.php] ]

Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV was buried on 19 September 2006 at Malaokinae Kula (the royal cemetery) in the Tongan capital, Nukuokinaalofa. Thousands of Tongans watched the funeral and mourners included many foreign dignitaries, including Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, Vanuatu president Kalkot Mataskelekele, the American Samoan governor Togiola Tulafono, Niue Premier Vivian Young, and the Duke of Gloucester, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The funeral blended Christian and ancient Polynesian burial rites. The funeral was overseen by the royal undertaker Lauaki and his men of the Haokinaatufunga (clan), also known as the "nima tapu" (sacred hands). [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060919/wl_asia_afp/tongaroyalking]

According to the "International Herald Tribune", "Tupou IV's 41-year reign made him one of the world's longest-serving sovereigns, after Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Samoa's head of state Malietoa Tanumafili II." [cite news |url= http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/18/asia/AS_GEN_Tonga_Kings_Funeral.php |publisher=International Herald Tribune |title=Royalty, dignitaries in Tonga gather for king's funeral |date=2006-09-18 |accessdate=2006-11-02]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.mercatornet.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=366 Obituary of Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV with historical context]
* [http://www.pmo.gov.to/artman/publish/article_170.shtml Official announcement of Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV's passing away]
* [http://www.palaceoffice.gov.to/ Website of the Tongan Monarchy]
* [http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=346&objectid=10400751 New Zealand Herald Feature Article]
* [http://www.matangitonga.to/article/PRC271004.shtml Recent Visit of HM King Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV to Hong Kong]
* [http://www.speedysnail.com/pacific/siupeli/ The 1993 Silver Jubilee of Tāufaokinaāhau Tupou IV]
* [http://www.pacificislands.cc/news/2006/09/19/thousands-turn-out-for-kings-funeral Pacific Magazine: Thousands Turn Out For King's Funeral]