George Tupou V
King of Tonga
Reign	11 September 2006 – present
Coronation	01 August 2008
Predecessor	Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
House	House of Tupou
Father	Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
Mother	Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe
Born	4 May 1948 (1948-05-04) (age 61) Tongatapu, Tonga

George Tupou V (Tongan: Siaosi Tupou V, full name: Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou V), (born 4 May 1948) is the current King of Tonga.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Crown Prince 3 Personal life 4 King 4.1 Coronation ceremony 4.2 Relinquishing authority 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Early life

Tupou V is the eldest son of the late King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, and was appointed Crown Prince on 4 May 1966. In daily life, he was better known by one of his traditional chiefly titles Tupoutoʻa.

The king attended primary school in Switzerland and secondary school at King's College in Auckland and The Leys School in Cambridge[1], and went on to study at Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England.

[edit] Crown Prince

As Crown Prince, Tupoutoʻa held great influence in Tongan politics, and was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1998. He has substantial business interests in Tonga and abroad, and is co-chairman of the Shoreline Group/Tonfön. As king, his first proclamation was that he would dispose of all his business assets as soon as reasonably possible, and in accordance with the law. Tonfön has since been sold, but the King was unable to get rid of the remainder of the Shoreline Group after the 2006 Nuku'alofa riots scared potential buyers from making a deal.

[edit] Personal life

The King is unmarried and has no children recognised as successors. He has, however, a daughter born out of marriage, ʻIlima Lei Tohi and, through her, is already a grandfather. According to the constitution of Tonga, ʻIlima is ineligible to inherit the throne.^[1]

[edit] King

Tupou V was sworn in as King on 11 September 2006,^[2] which also made him, from a traditional viewpoint, the 23rd Tuʻi Kanokupolu (the overlords of Tongatapu).

[edit] Coronation ceremony

The ceremonial aspects of Tupou V's accession to the throne took place in July/August 2008. These were initially to be held in 2007, after the official mourning period for his father (6 months for close relatives) and his own birthday but, after the 2006 Tonga riots, he decided to focus on the reconstruction of the destroyed capital.^[3]

During a week of celebrations, two key ceremonies took place to mark Tupou's coronation.

On 30 July 2008, a Taumafa Kava ceremony (royal kava ring) was held on Malaʻe Pangai, the open space to the east of the Royal Palace. During the ceremony the King sat on a pile of handwoven pandanus mats on an open pavilion facing the sea, while more than 200 Tongan nobles and chiefs dressed in woven skirts and sea shells circled him. He wore the traditional Tongan ta'ovala woven mat skirt and a garland of flowers.

During this ceremony, Tupou V was formally recognised as the Tuʻi Kanokupolu, and the rightful descendent of King George Tupou I who united Tonga in the 19th century. The ceremony involved the presentation of kava to the King and assembled chiefs and nobles. Presentations of hundreds of baskets of food as well as 70 cooked pigs were made.^[4]

School children held 30,000 torches on this night to proclaim Tupou V's coronation to the world.^[4] A tupakapakanava, or traditional torch spectacle, an ancient honour accorded only to the monarch and the royal family, was held later at a spot overlooking the Pacific.^[5]

A formal, European-style, coronation ceremony took place on 1 August 2008 in the Centennial Chapel, Nuku’alofa.^[6] In an elaborate spectacle, the Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia Jabez Bryce invested Tupou V with the Tongan regalia, including the ring, sceptre and sword, and in the culmination of the ceremony, placed the Tongan Crown on his head.^[6]

[edit] Relinquishing authority

Three days before his coronation on 1 August 2008, the King announced that he would relinquish most of his power and be guided by his Prime Minister's recommendations on most matters.^[7] The Prime Minister would also be in charge of day-to-day affairs.^[8] Tupou will still have the powers to appoint judges and commute prison sentences.^[9] The King also sold off lucrative business interests as part of the announcement.^[10] In addition, the King announced that there will be parliamentary reform and elections in 2010.^[11] Fielakepa, the spokesman for the royal palace, said, "The Sovereign of the only Polynesian kingdom ... is voluntarily surrendering his powers to meet the democratic aspirations of many of his people ... [The people] favour a more representative, elected Parliament. The king agrees with them."^[10]

[edit] External links

• King George Tupou V interviewed by the BBC, 31 July 2008
• The New King of Tonga gallery

[edit] References

George Tupou V House of Tupou Born: 4 May 1948
Regnal titles
Preceded by Taufa'ahau Tupou IV	King of Tonga 2006 – present	Incumbent Heir: 'Aho'eitu 'Unuaki'otonga Tuku'aho