Eldest son overlooked after Māori king dies in New Zealand

The eldest son of New Zealand’s late Māori King has been overlooked for the crown in favour of the late monarch’s daughter.
Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, the only daughter and youngest child of Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, was announced as the new Queen during the funeral of her father, which spanned six days.
She took her place on a throne near the coffin of her father, who died on Friday aged 69 following heart surgery and just nine days after he celebrated his 18th anniversary as King of the Kīngitanga or Māori King movement.
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Thousands gathered to pay their respects to the late King following a week-long period of mourning in the country’s North Island.
The new Queen accompanied her father’s casket on a two-hour canoe ride along the Waikato River, bearing him to his final resting place, to the sounds of the haka.
Kīngi Tūheitia reportedly had a falling out with his eldest son Whatumoana Paki in June 2022 upon his wedding to companion Rangimarie Tahana-Morgan King-Te Wherowhero.
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The King disapproved of his son’s marriage, with the King’s office releasing a statement stating as such, also stripping him of his royal title.
The couple have been compared to Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Their friends rallied around the pair on social media, showing their support using the hash tag #BlacklistedFams.
Whatumoana is the eldest child of Kīngi Tuheitia and Te Makau Ariki Atawhai Paki. They have two other children, brother Te Ariki Taituruki Korotangi and sister Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō.
This is only the second time New Zealand has had a Māori Queen with the King’s daughter working closely alongside her father to preserve the Māori cause.
Her baptism in the settlement town of Parakino was meant to symbolically unite Māori tribes in the areas near the Waikato and Whanganui Rivers and to signify the close ties between the Kiingitanga movement and the Catholic Church, CathNews New Zealand reported.
A raising up ceremony known as a Te Whakawahinga was held in the small town of Ngāruawāhia with the Kiingitanga advisory council, a group of 12 elders from assorted tribes, choosing her as Queen.
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The Kiingitanga was founded in 1858 as a force to resist colonisation and to preserve Māori culture and land.
It has no legal mandate and is largely ceremonial however it is revered among Māori tribes and the Kiingitanga has played an increasingly important role in preserving Māori culture in regards to proposed policies.
The Guardian reports Te Tiriti o Waitangi lawyer Annette Sykes as saying the appointment is “inspiring” and “the revitalisation and reclamation of our language has been a 40-year journey for most of us and she epitomises that, it is her first language, she speaks it with ease.”
“Political, economic and social wellbeing for our people is at the heart of what she wants and in many ways she is like her grandmother, who was adored by the nation,” she added.
Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō met then-Prince Charles in London in 2022.
At the time she spoke of her desire for “all Māori land to be returned to Māori.”
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