The Year of Queen Sālote Tupou III – Sālote’s installation in the title of Tu’i Kanokupolu and her coronation
In Tonga, there were at least three titles, known as lines of “kings.” Membership of the aristocracy was determined by one’s descent from the most ancient and thus the highest line, which was called the Tu’i Tonga. Before the Tupou dynasty, there was also the line of the Tu’i Ha’atakalaua, which went extinct in 1799. The third line or title was that of the Tu’i Kanokupolu.
The last acknowledged title holder of the Tu’i Tonga had died in 1865, but the line of descent still existed from the Tu’i Tonga’s eldest sister, Tu’i Tonga Fefine, and especially the line of her eldest daughter (the Tamahā or “sacred child”) determined personal rank. It came into the royal family when King George I was installed as the 19th Tu’i Kanokupolu. His father had claimed the title before, but he had not been officially recognised.
The title of Tu’i Kanokupolu came up again when the future Queen Sālote’s father decided to marry Lavinia Veiongo. He had been meant to marry Princess ʻOfakivavaʻu in 1899, and all the preparations had already been made when he changed his mind and chose to marry Lavinia. Both ʻOfakivavaʻu and Lavinia were of aristocratic blood of the Tu’i Tonga, although Lavinia was only descended from that line through her father. ʻOfakivavaʻu had the support of many powerful chiefs, and she was the great-niece of Old Tungī, who had been a claimant to the Tu’i Kanokupolu, but he had been willing to stand aside if the King married ʻOfakivavaʻu. Old Tungī died the year after the wedding took place.
Christianity only allowed for one wife, and the Constitution of 1875 stated that the eldest son by this wife would be the heir to his father’s title. In the absence of a son, this could also include a daughter. King George married Lavinia and went on to have the future Queen Sālote with her before her untimely death in 1902. His subsequent remarriage to Princess ʻOfakivavaʻu’s sister, ʻAnaseini Takipō, gave him two daughters, of whom one died in infancy. This left Sālote not only his heir as ruler of Tonga but also to the Tu’i Kanokupolu title.
Sālote succeeded her father as Queen on 5 April 1918. The period of mourning for him ended on 4-7 October with presentations at the royal palace. On 8 October, the washing of special black stone (kaukau or lanu kilikili) took place at the graveside, followed by the placing of those stones there.
On 9 October 1918, Queen Sālote was installed as Tu’i Kanokupolu during a royal taumafa kava on the Mala’e Pangai. She wore a pair of fine mats, and a soft white mat which fanned out when it was released. One newspaper reported, “The Queen, who was in full native costume, came forward in a dignified manner, and in close order following was a party of about 100 female attendants who carried at its full length a fine mat over sixty feet long. […] There was a great deal of formality in the matter of the distribution of the kava, and much time was taken up in this direction, but after the ceremony had been fully observed, attention was given to the food offering.”1
Two days after this ceremony, Sālote would be crowned as Queen in a ceremony that followed a more European tradition, with its oaths and promises. The Queen began the day by reading the 23rd Psalm in solitude. After a blessing in the royal chapel, Reverend Watkin crowned Sālote with the words, “Receive the crown of glory, honour, and joy.”2
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