Tupou VI

Tupou VI
The King in 2019
King of Tonga
Reign	18 March 2012 – present
Coronation	4 July 2015
Predecessor	George Tupou V
Heir apparent	Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala
Prime Ministers	See list Sialeʻataongo Tuʻivakanō ʻAkilisi Pōhiva Semisi Sika (Acting) Pohiva Tuʻiʻonetoa Siaosi Sovaleni
13th Prime Minister of Tonga
Term	3 January 2000 – 11 February 2006
Predecessor	Baron Vaea
Successor	Feleti Sevele
Monarch	Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
Born	(1959-07-12) 12 July 1959 Royal Palace, Nukuʻalofa, Kingdom of Tonga
Spouse	Nanasipauʻu Vaea ​ (m. 1982)​
Issue	Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala Prince Ata
Names ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho
House	Tupou
Father	Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV
Mother	Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe
Alma mater	University of East Anglia University of New South Wales Bond University

Tupou VI (Tongan: ‘Aho‘eitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho; born 12 July 1959) is the King of Tonga. He is the younger brother and successor of the late King George Tupou V. He was officially confirmed by his brother on 27 September 2006 as the heir presumptive to the Throne of Tonga, as his brother (a bachelor) had no legitimate children. He served as Tonga's High Commissioner to Australia, and resided in Canberra until the death of King George Tupou V on 18 March 2012, when ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho became King of Tonga, with the regnal name Tupou VI.

Life

He was born in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga, the third son and youngest child of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV. He was educated at The Leys School, Cambridge, from 1973 to 1977. He then attended the University of East Anglia, where he read Development Studies, from 1977 to 1980. He started his career in the military, joining the naval arm of the Tonga Defence Services in 1982 and becoming a Lieutenant-Commander in 1987. He graduated from the US Naval War College as part of Class 33 in 1988. From 1990 to 1995 he commanded the Pacific-class patrol boat VOEA Pangai and his time in charge included peacekeeping operations in Bougainville. He graduated with a masters in Defence Studies from the University of New South Wales in 1997 and with an MA in International Relations from Bond University in 1999.

In 1998 he ended his military career to become part of the government, first as simultaneous defence minister and foreign minister from October 1998 until August 2004. He took over these posts from his elder brother Tupoutoʻa, at that time still the crown prince, later to become King Siaosi Tupou V (see below). He was later appointed as Prime Minister on 3 January 2000, a function he kept until his sudden resignation on 11 February 2006. The reason has never been made clear, but was likely connected to pro-democracy protests calling since mid-2005 for a lesser role of the royal family in government, later culminating in the 2006 Nukuʻalofa riots. His appointed successor, Feleti Sevele, was Tonga's first prime minister who was not a hereditary estate holder or a member of the 33 noble families that make up the Tongan aristocracy.

In 2008 ʻAhoʻeitu was appointed Tonga's first High Commissioner to Australia, a post he held until his succession to the Tongan throne in 2012. In addition, he was also non-resident Ambassador to Japan from 15 January 2010 to his succession in 2012. In 2013 he was appointed as Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific.

On 15 January 2022, he was evacuated from the Royal Palace after the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami. He returned to the palace on 17 January.

Marriage and family

Tupoutoʻa-Lavaka (centre) in a mourning dress for his recently deceased father, king Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV in 2006. He is flanked by his two sons, the new chiefs ʻUlukālala (left) and Ata (right)

ʻAhoʻeitu is married to a daughter of the high chief Vaea, Nanasipauʻu Tukuʻaho (his second cousin) and the couple have three children and four grandchildren:

• Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho – ʻAngelika Lātūfuipeka Halaʻevalu Mataʻaho Napuaʻokalani Tukuʻaho (17 November 1983)
  She followed her father's steps to be the current High Commissioner to Australia since 22 August 2012.
• Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala – Siaosi Manumataongo ʻAlaivahamamaʻo ʻAhoʻeitu Konstantin Tukuʻaho (17 September 1985, Nukuʻalofa). He married on 12 July 2012 Sinaitakala Fakafanua, daughter of late High Chief Kinikinilau Fakafanua and Princess Ofeina, Lady Fakafanua, both King Tupou VI's first cousins. They have four children: Prince Taufaʻahau Manumataongo – Taufaʻahau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho (born 10 May 2013 at Auckland City Hospital in Auckland), Princess Halaevalu Mata'aho (born 12 July 2015, Auckland City Hospital in Auckland), Princess Nanasipau’u (born 20 March 2018, Auckland Hospital in Auckland) and Princess Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu (born 25 February 2021, Calvary Hospital in Canberra).
• Prince Ata – Viliami ʻUnuaki-ʻo-Tonga Mumui Lalaka-Mo-e-ʻEiki Tukuʻaho (Nukuʻalofa, 27 April 1988).

Since his confirmation as heir presumptive, he got the traditional title of Tupoutoʻa, reserved for crown princes, which his older brother (the second) had to give up because he married a commoner, while two of his previous titles went to his sons. As such he was until his accession to the throne known as Tupoutoʻa Lavaka. His elder son, Siaosi, (George) is to be addressed by the prestigious title of ʻUlukālala of Fangatongo, while his second son, Viliami, (William) was bestowed with ʻAta of Hihifo.

Coronation

King Tupou VI after his coronation ceremony in Nukuʻalofa on 4 July 2015

King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u were crowned in a ceremony conducted at Centenary Church in Nukuʻalofa on 4 July 2015 by the Reverend D'Arcy Wood, a retired Uniting Church in Australia minister who was born in Tonga. He was assisted by the Reverend 'Ahio and the Reverend Tevita Havea, the president and the secretary general of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga. The celebrations included many international invited guests, and an estimated 15,000 people, mostly expatriate Tongans, flew in to join the celebrations.

During the ceremony, Tupou VI was anointed with holy oil, adorned with a ring, and presented with a sceptre. The crown was then placed on his head by Wood, who performed the anointing and crowning as a matter of circumventing the taboo on native Tongans touching the King's head. The celebrations ran for a total of eleven days, beginning a week before the ceremony.

Honours

See also: List of honours of the Tongan Royal Family by country

Styles of King Tupou VI of Tonga
Reference style	His Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty

National

• Tonga:
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Pouono
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of George Tupou I
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Sālote Tupou III
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint George
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Royal House
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Oceania

Decorations

•  : King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV Coronation Silver Jubilee Medal (4 July 1992)
•  : King George Tupou V Coronation Medal (31 July 2008)
•  : Tonga Defence Services General Service (Bougainville) Medal (4 July 1995)
•  : Tonga Defence Services Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Family tree

Tupou family tree
Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua line Tuʻi Tonga line Tuʻi Kanokupolu line Kalolaine Fusimatalili George Tupou I Fīnau Kaunanga Fifita Vavʻau Tēvita ʻUnga Sālote Mafile‘o Pilolevu Filiaipulotu Fusipala Taukiʻonetuku Fatafehi Toutaitokotaha Lavinia Veiongo George Tupou II ʻAnaseini Takipō Viliami Tungī Mailefihi Sālote Tupou III Vīlai Tupou (illegitimate son) Tupou Seini Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe Siaosi 'Alipate Tupou, Baron Vaea Tuputupu Ma'afu-'o-Tukuialahi George Tupou V Tupou VI Nanasipauʻu Tukuʻaho Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala Sinaitakala Fakafanua Taufaʻahau Manumataongo
Reference: Fox, James J.; Sather, Clifford (1996). Origins, Ancestry and Alliance: Explorations in Austronesian Ethnography. Canberra: Department of Anthropology, Australian National University. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-7315-2432-7. OCLC 245762652. Kaeppler, Adrienne Lois; D.C. (2008). The Pacific Arts of Polynesia and Micronesia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-19-284238-1. OCLC 236158882. Völkel, Svenja (2010). Social Structure, Space and Possession in Tongan Culture and Language: An Ethnolinguistic Study. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-90-272-0283-3. Wood-Ellem, Elizabeth (1999). Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900-1965. Auckland, N.Z: Auckland University Press. p. front. ISBN 978-0-8248-2529-4. OCLC 262293605.

See also

• Line of succession to the Tongan throne
• List of national leaders

External links

• Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata at IMDb
• Government Biography