Māori king’s daughter crowned as king buried
A new queen has been crowned as the eighth Māori monarch in New Zealand, following the passing of her father, Kiingi Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII.
Twenty-seven-year-old Ngā Wai hono I te pō was selected as the new kuini, the Māori term for the queen, by a council of Indigenous Māori chiefs during a grand ceremony on the North Island.
She is the second Māori queen, succeeding her grandmother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
Ngā Wai hono I te pō, the youngest child of the late Kiingi Tuheitia, who passed away last Friday at the age of 69, was formally announced as queen while seated on a carved wooden throne at Tūrangawaewae Marae, the center of the Kiingitanga or Māori king movement.
During the ceremony, she was blessed with the same Bible used to anoint the first Māori king in 1858 and sat before her father’s coffin, adorned with a wreath and cloak, as prayers and chants were performed prior to his burial.
A flotilla of war canoes then transported the king – who laid in state for six days before his burial – to his final resting place on Mount Taupiri, sacred to the Māori people.
The king had been recovering from heart surgery in hospital when he died, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.
The naming of Ngâwai hono i te pô as queen marks a generational shift. Many also see it as a gesture of renewal and a positive influence on younger Mâori members.
The new queen holds a master’s degree in Mâori cultural studies and teaches kapa haka, the Mâori term for performing arts.
A haka dance accompanied some of Kiingi Tuheitia’s funeral ceremony, which was elaborate and in many parts emotional. His coffin was then taken by a flotilla of waka, or carved war canoes, along the Waikato River before being carried up Mount Taupiri, where he was laid to rest.
The ceremony marked the end of a week of formal proceedings following Kiingi Tuheitia’s death.
“The death of King Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom, and the entire nation,” Rahui Papa, spokesman for the Kiingitanga or Māori king movement said at the time.
“A chief who has passed to the great beyond. Rest in love.”
“Our country will be in mourning,” said Chris Hipkins, leader of New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party, shortly after the king’s death. “He was a fantastic king with a wicked sense of humor, but also a very good man… with a real focus on bringing New Zealanders together.”
New Zealand’s prime minister Christoper Luxon praised King Tuheitia as a leader “whose commitment to Māori and all New Zealanders has been felt right across the country”.
However, Mr Luxon – whose government’s policies have been accused by some New Zealanders of being anti-Māori – is on an official trip to South Korea and did not attend the funeral.
Last year, thousands of protesters across New Zealand rallied against the government’s plans to reverse policies that boosted Indigenous rights. These included plans to close the Māori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, which was set up during Jacinda Ardern’s government, and plans to switch the names of some departments from Māori to English.
Kiingi Tuheitia’s official period of mourning was extended from the usual three days to seven days to accommodate the huge delegations that came to pay tribute to him.
“I have never experienced anything like this,” Mereana Hond, a Māori journalist, told BBC Newsday.
“We have lost a king who was rising in prominence, leading all tribes of Aotearoa/New Zealand at a time when we’re under a lot of political and social pressure under this coalition government.”
Kiingi Tuheitia was born Tūheitia Paki in 1955, and crowned in 2006 following the death of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Like his mother, he was seen as a great unifying figure, recently calling on Māori to stand together in the face of policies targeting them.
The Māori monarchy dates back to the 19th Century when different Māori tribes decided to create a unifying figure similar to that of a European monarch to try to prevent the widespread loss of land to New Zealand’s British colonizers and to preserve Māori culture. The role is largely ceremonial.
