Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV

Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV (born Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi; 4 July 1918 – 10 September 2006) was King of Tonga from 1965 until his death in 2006. He was the tallest and heaviest Tongan monarch, weighing 209.5 kg and measuring 196cm.

Biography
The King's full baptismal name was Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Tupoulahi, but he was soon better known by the traditional title reserved for Crown Princes: Tupoutoʻa (bestowed in 1937), later replaced by the title he inherited from his father: Tungī (or using both: Tupoutoʻa-Tungī, in that time written as Tuboutoʻa-Tugi). He kept the Tungī title until his death. From a traditional point of view he was not only the Tungī, which is the direct descendant from the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua, but he was also, on becoming king, the 22nd Tuʻi Kanokupolu. The link with the Tuʻi Tonga, was more indirect. He was not a Tuʻi Tonga too (as that office has gone over into the Kalaniuvalu line), but his grandmother Lavinia Veiongo (wife of George Tupou II) was the great-granddaughter of Laufilitonga, the last Tuʻi Tonga, and his wife Halaevalu Mataʻaho (not to be confused with the King's wife of the same name and same family), who was the daughter of Tupou ʻAhomeʻe, who was the daughter of Lātūfuipeka, the Tamahā (sister of the Tuʻi Tonga). By consequence, the King's daughter, Pilolevu, was the first woman in Tongan culture to really have the blood of the three major Royal dynasties in her veins and become the highest-ranking person ever.

Tāufaʻāhau was a keen sportsman and religious preacher in his youth. He was educated at Newington College and studied law at Sydney University while resident at Wesley College in Sydney, Australia. He was appointed Minister of Education by Queen Sālote in 1943, Minister of Health in 1944, and in 1949, Premier. He remained a lay preacher of the Free Wesleyan Church until his death, and in some circumstances, was empowered to appoint an acting church president.

Reign
Tāufaʻāhau became King of Tonga on the death of his mother in 1965. His coronation took place on 4 July 1967, his 49th birthday, with dignitaries including the Duke of Kent and New Zealand Prime Minister Keith Holyoake in attendance.

At one point in the 1970s, he was the heaviest monarch in the world, weighing in at 209.5 kg. For his visits to Germany, the German government used to commission special chairs that could support his weight. The King used to take them home, considering them as state presents. He was also very tall, standing at 196cm. Swedish shoemaker Per-Enok Kero reported that "He weighed 180 kilos and had shoe size 47 in length and 52 in breadth." In the 1990s, he took part in a national fitness campaign, losing a third of his weight.

He wielded great political authority and influence in Tonga's essentially aristocratic system of government, together with the country's nobles, who controlled 70% of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga at the time. His involvement in an investment scandal in 2001, involving his American financial advisor Jesse Bogdonoff, led to calls for greater government transparency and democratisation. The fact the King had previously appointed Bogdonoff, Tonga's official court jester, though likely only done as a joke for Bogdonoff's birthday which happened to fall on 1 April, compounded the scandal's embarrassment. In 2005, the government spent several weeks negotiating with striking civil service workers before reaching a settlement. The king's nephew, Tuʻipelehake (ʻUluvalu), served as mediator. A constitutional commission presented a series of recommendations for constitutional reform to the King a few weeks before his death.

Death and funeral
On 15 August 2006, Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele interrupted radio and television broadcasts to announce the King was gravely ill in the Mercy Hospital in Auckland and to ask the 104,000 people of the island chain to pray for their monarch. He died 26 days later, at 23:34 NZST on 10 September 2006 (it was just after midnight on 11 September in Tongan time). He was 88 and had reigned for nearly 41 years.

Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV was buried on 19 September 2006 at Malaʻe Kula (the Royal cemetery) in the Tongan capital, Nukuʻalofa. Thousands of Tongans watched the funeral and mourners included many foreign dignitaries, including Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Fijian Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, Vanuatu president Kalkot Mataskelekele, the American Samoan Governor Togiola Tulafono, Niue Premier Vivian Young, and the Duke of Gloucester, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The funeral blended Christian and ancient Polynesian burial rites. The funeral was overseen by the Royal undertaker Lauaki and his men of the Haʻatufunga (clan), also known as the nima tapu (sacred hands).

According to the International Herald Tribune, "Tupou IV's 41-year reign made him one of the world's longest-serving sovereigns", after Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej; Queen Elizabeth II in her capacity as monarch of Australia, Barbados, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom; and Samoa's head of state, Malietoa Tanumafili II.

Marriage and children
He was married to Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe (1926–2017) and the couple had four children:


 * King George Tupou V (born Prince Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou; 1948–2012), while as Crown Prince, better known by the hereditary title: Tupoutoʻa (once his father did not need it any longer). He succeeded him on his death in 2006.
 * Princess Royal Salote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita (born Tukuʻaho in 1951). Lady Tuita by marriage.
 * Prince Fatafehi 'Alaivahamama'o Tuku'aho (stripped of his title after marrying a commoner, later bestowed with the hereditary title of Māʻatu, born in 1954, deceased in 2004). He married his first wife Heimataura Seiloni, 21 July 1980, who died of cancer in Nuku'alofa, 19 September 1985. She was the adopted daughter of High Chief Matagialalua Tavana Salmon Anderson of Tahiti and daughter of his wife Tongan singer and songwriter, Tu'imala Kaho. Lord Māʻatu then married Alaile'ula Poutasi Jungblut, 11 July 1989, who is the daughter of Melvin Jungblut and his wife Lola Tosi Malietoa, also the daughter of the late Samoan head of state Malietoa Tanumafili II. Lord Māʻatu and Dowager Lady Māʻatu had four children: Sitiveni Tuku'aho (Prince Tungi), Salote Maumautaimi Tuku'aho, Sione Ikamafana Tuku'aho and Etani Ha'amea Tuku'aho. Their eldest son inherited the Princely title in 2008. Their second son Sione Ikamafana Tuku'aho was adopted by his paternal aunt, Princess Royal, Princess Pilolevu Tuita.
 * King Tupou VI (born Prince ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho in 1959). Prior to his ascension to the throne, he was better known by his traditional titles: Tupoutoʻa Lavaka (until the death of his father known as: ʻUlukālala Lavaka Ata). As his elder brother died without legitimate issue, he became King in 2012.

National

 * 🇹🇴 Tonga: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of Pouono
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross Of the Order of King George Tupou I
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga: Sovereign Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown of Tonga
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga: Sovereign Recipient of the Royal Tongan Medal of Merit
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga: Sovereign Recipient of the Tongan Red Cross Medal

Foreign

 * 🇩🇰 Denmark: Recipient of the Royal Medal of Recompense
 * 🇫🇷 France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
 * 🇩🇪 Germany: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Class
 * 🇵🇫 French Polynesia: Grand Cross of the Order of Tahiti Nui
 * 🇯🇵 Japan: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Chrysanthemum
 * 🇹🇼 Republic of China: Grand Cross of the Order of Brilliant Jade
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Bailiff Grand Cross of the Venerable Order of Saint John
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Recipient of the Medal of Merit of the Legion of Frontiersmen
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal

Namesakes

 * Tonga House at Newington College