Coronation of His Majesty King Tupou VI of Tonga: 4 July 2015


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I don't know much about the Tongan RF, but I think I'm going to do some research on them and read up about them here. It is nice that they wore traditional Tongan dress for some of the celebrations.

It's great to see CP Masako out and about, and she also looks quite happy and relaxed. I loved her white dress she wore today.

Whilst it would've been nice if the BRF could send a royal representative, I expected them not to attend because of the reputation they have for missing foreign royal events. Do we have a Tongan embassy in Britain?
 
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HereditaryPrincess said:
I don't know much about the Tongan RF, but I think I'm going to do some research on them and read up about them here. It is nice that they wore traditional Tongan dress for some of the celebrations.

It's great to see CP Masako out and about, and she also looks quite happy and relaxed. I loved her white dress she wore today.

Whilst it would've been nice if the BRF could send a royal representative, I expected them not to attend because of the reputation they have for missing foreign royal events. Do we have a Tongan embassy in Britain?
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As far as I read, none of the 'major' Royal Houses sent anyone, except for Japan. So it's nothing extraordinary that there are no British Royals.
 
Both Tonga and Japan are in the Pacific region. So imo it is quite understandable that the relationship with Japan is closer than that with the European monarchies.
 
Thanks for photos and video!:flowers:
Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako were the highest raniking royals that attended the coronation. The non-attedance of other royal houses does not come as a surprise.

Crown Princess Masako looked lovely.
 
Jacknch said:
Yup, you were right, the link I checked out didn't show the live link at 10pm so I left it until 11pm and looked on another webpage and just saw the King leaving after the coronation! Hopefully I will find some video footage on Youtube and will post it if I do.
From what I have seen, the ceremony seemed less grand than the previous one - the throne for instance was not the golden one used before.
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I tried the link for TVNZ and there was a news article about the coronation but no sign of showing it. Then the newscaster mentioned going on to Facebook to get a link to the live streaming but I searched their FB and couldn't find it. I later found out that they posted it just as the King and Queen left the church. I managed to find the ceremony on Tongan TV but it kept freezing at first, though this later stopped, and the picture was a bit distorted which made everyone look small and dumpy. You are right about the golden throne. King George Tupou V had it made in China but as the present King is more traditional in his outlook he used the thrones that his parents, grandmother, and great grandfather had used.
I noticed was that the queen was crowned with a new crown and not the one traditionally used for the crowning of the Queen Consort. Queen Mata'aho was crowned with it and wore it along with her coronation robes at the coronation of George Tupou V but at this coronation she too had a new crown and wore Tongan dress.
The ceremony was less grand than the last one but, apart from the fact that the King is conscious of cost in todays financial climate, Tongan coronations are not usually grand affairs as can be witnessed in the video of the 1967 coronation in the tiny royal chapel.
One thing I wasn't too happy about, and this happened at the last coronation too, was the clapping when the King and Queen entered and left the church and also at the moment of crowning. Each member of the royal family was also clapped as they left the building and I felt that it was not appropriate in such solemn ceremony.
 
Dman said:
Anyone from the British royal family were in attendance?
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No, and it was a disgrace. Tonga is, after all, a Commonwealth country. Also, as a friend said, British TV has never even mentioned the coronation in their news broadcasts.
 
Tonga is a Commonwealth country and the coronation of the new King they send no one? WOW
 
SLV said:
As far as I read, none of the 'major' Royal Houses sent anyone, except for Japan. So it's nothing extraordinary that there are no British Royals.
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Tonga is a Commonwealth country so common courtesy would demand that a member of the British royal family be there and Queen Salote was the only reigning monarch to attend Queen Elizabeth's coronation.

There were other Polynesian royals in attendance including the Maori King and, although not mentioned this time, the Kings of Uvea, Sigave and Alo attended the last two coronations and presumably attended this one.
 
I was a bit surprised that nobody from the British Royal Family was there, given the Queen's enthusiasm for the Commonwealth. I wonder why the Ao o le Malo of Samoa and his wife were given such a position of honour in the church? It's almost as if his traditional royal titles are more important in Polynesia than that of Head of State (Ao o le Malo). The Ao o le Malo also defied the general formality of the dress code by choosing something plain and comfortable. I didn't spot the Maori King or his son.
 
SLV said:
As far as I read, none of the 'major' Royal Houses sent anyone, except for Japan. So it's nothing extraordinary that there are no British Royals.
Click to expand...

You have raised a good point but Tonga is part of the Commonwealth, so it would've made more sense for Britain to send a royal representative.
 
I was mistaken about the Queen Mother's crown. I've seen a close up of her in the church and she is not wearing a new crown but the one with which she was crowned.
 
The Maori King was wearing insignia from his newly minted honours system that he introduced last year at his annual coronation commemoration ceremonies. I can't be sure which one he is wearing, but as it contains his coat of arms in the design (Te Paki o Matariki) I can only assume this is the Order of King Potatau (The First Maori King) which is reserved for Heads of State, Foreign Monarchs and one would presume the head of the Kiingitanga.

20150704_Visitors_9239_lf.jpg


Credit: Matangi Tonga | Tonga's Leading News Website

The wife of Kiingi Tuheitia, Makau Ariki Te Atawhai clearly needs a new stylist.

20150704_Coronation-visitors_0109_alk.jpg


Credit: www.matangitonga.to
 
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Iain said:
No, and it was a disgrace. Tonga is, after all, a Commonwealth country. Also, as a friend said, British TV has never even mentioned the coronation in their news broadcasts.
Click to expand...


Now that surprises me!:ohmy:
 
No1_Saint said:
The Maori King was wearing insignia from his newly minted honours system that he introduced last year at his annual coronation commemoration ceremonies. I can't be sure which one he is wearing, but as it contains his coat of arms in the design (Te Paki o Matariki) I can only assume this is the Order of King Potatau (The First Maori King) which is reserved for Heads of State, Foreign Monarchs and one would presume the head of the Kiingitanga.

20150704_Visitors_9239_lf.jpg


Credit: Matangi Tonga | Tonga's Leading News Website

The wife of Kiingi Tuheitia, Makau Ariki Te Atawhai clearly needs a new stylist.

20150704_Coronation-visitors_0109_alk.jpg


Credit: www.matangitonga.to
Click to expand...

Does his wife have the title of Queen?
 
Moonmaiden23 said:
Now that surprises me!:ohmy:
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It doesn't surprise me. They tend not to report foreign royal occasions or just give them a few seconds at the end of a news broadcast. It's seems that they think that the people in British are only interested in the Windsors. Someone told me that a few years ago she wrote to the BBC complaining about the lack of a report on the death of King Olav of Norway and received a reply saying that they didn't believe that the British people were interested in Foreign royalty. Even when they do have a report they can be very condescending. When newspapers carry reports of a state visit by a foreign monarch they tend to use capital letters when referring to the Queen or Prince Philip or Prince Charles and low case when refereeing to the visiting monarch, as in king, or queen. I once askes a journalist why this was and he said journalists were told to do that and when I asked why he said "it's because they're not real royalty." Sadly, that seems to be a view held by many in Britain.
 
Iain said:
Does his wife have the title of Queen?
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No. Interestingly, being consort to the monarch doesn't automatically grant you a title either. Makau Ariki in essence means, wife to the Paramount Leader. The reason being is that the position is voted in by the heads of leading families of leading tribes who debate in secret the candidates and then confirm the next head of the Kiingitanga or the King Movement. Therefore, the office is a stewardship of the position and all it represents, not the continuity of a specific lineage. At the enthronement the people confirm their support and then vocally support a title amoungst three presented to them. King and Queen are reserved exclusivley for the Monarch.

Although there is no crown prince, their oldest son has been granted two titles. Ariki Tamaroa (an old title indicating the oldest son of a high ranking leader - the feminine being Ariki Tapairu) and Te Whirinaki o Te Kiingi, a title previously conferred on the brother of Kiingi Mahuta who represented The King at traditional functions when he sat in the Legislative Council (the then upper house of the NZ Parliament - functioned on similar lines to the House of Lords in the UK).

The royal family as a whole are referred to as Te Kahui Ariki.

Sorry for the long winded essay...I got carried away.
 
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'Not real royalty'. Did this Journalist forget the Windsors teutonic roots and Queen Victorias nickname 'grandmother of Europe'? It's one huge family lol
 
Iain said:
It doesn't surprise me. They tend not to report foreign royal occasions or just give them a few seconds at the end of a news broadcast. It's seems that they think that the people in British are only interested in the Windsors. Someone told me that a few years ago she wrote to the BBC complaining about the lack of a report on the death of King Olav of Norway and received a reply saying that they didn't believe that the British people were interested in Foreign royalty.
Click to expand...

The BBC did report though on the recent abdications of Queen Beatrix, King Albert II and King Juan Carlos, and on the respective investitures of King Willem-Alexander, King Philippe and King Felipe VI.
 
No1_Saint said:
No. Interestingly, being consort to the monarch doesn't automatically grant you a title either. Makau Ariki in essence means, wife to the Paramount Leader. The reason being is that the position is voted in by the heads of leading families of leading tribes who debate in secret the candidates and then confirm the next head of the Kiingitanga or the King Movement. Therefore, the office is a stewardship of the position and all it represents, not the continuity of a specific lineage. At the enthronement the people confirm their support and then vocally support a title amoungst three presented to them. King and Queen are reserved exclusivley for the Monarch.

Although there is no crown prince, their oldest son has been granted two titles. Ariki Tamaroa (an old title indicating the oldest son of a high ranking leader - the feminine being Ariki Tapairu) and Te Whirinaki o Te Kiingi, a title previously conferred on the brother of Kiingi Mahuta who represented The King at traditional functions when he sat in the Legislative Council (the then upper house of the NZ Parliament - functioned on similar lines to the House of Lords in the UK).

The royal family as a whole are referred to as Te Kahui Ariki.

Sorry for the long winded essay...I got carried away.
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it, it was very interesting, thank you. I have heard that in Uvea, Sigave and Alo, where the Kings are also elected from various royal families, that the wives of the Kings are called Queens.
 
Fürstin Taxis said:
'Not real royalty'. Did this Journalist forget the Windsors teutonic roots and Queen Victorias nickname 'grandmother of Europe'? It's one huge family lol
Click to expand...

Sadly, I don't think that journalist is the exception. There is definitely a snob element among many British royalists who believe that the Windsors are superior to other royals.
I remember a, now dead, royal correspondent who said that Queen Elizabeth was "the longest serving head of state in the world." In fact, she was the fourth longest serving and when it was pointed out that the King of Thailand was the world's longest serving monarch and that in Europe the Prince of Monaco was the longest serving followed by the King of the Belgians and then Elizabeth, his answer was "Monaco? you can't count Monaco, it's only a tiny little country."
During Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee when she gave a banquet for other monarchs, there were people complaining that none of the other monarchs bowed or curtsied to Elizabeth. When I pointed out to a group people who had made such a complaint that they were all of equal rank I was told "no they are not, the British monarch is the world's premier monarch and all others are beneath her."
One person even claimed that the other monarchs in Europe only have their titles because Queen Elizabeth allows them to use them but if she so wished she could abolish the titles and there was nothing that the holders could do about it.
 
Mbruno said:
The BBC did report though on the recent abdications of Queen Beatrix, King Albert II and King Juan Carlos, and on the respective investitures of King Willem-Alexander, King Philippe and King Felipe VI.
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Yes, but they only gave a fleeting reference to them instead of a good length report as many in Britain would like. Only yesterday I was talking to a lady, an ardent news watcher, who had only just found out that Queen Fabiola had died. She said that there was no mention on the news programmes she watched.
 
Iain said:
One person even claimed that the other monarchs in Europe only have their titles because Queen Elizabeth allows them to use them but if she so wished she could abolish the titles and there was nothing that the holders could do about it.
Click to expand...

:lol: That's what I call delusional.
 
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