Māori King Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII of New Zealand succumbed to death on Friday aged 69, having led from the front for 18 years.
“Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has died peacefully after breakfast today, and it is clear that his wife Makau Ariki and children were by his side,” the ruling movement of New Zealand, kiingitanga, posts on the social platform.
Kiingitanga Spokesman Rahui Papa says Te Kiingi was unwell in hospital recuperating from a heart operation only days after the 18th anniversary of his crowning. The demise of Kiingi Tuheitia is a great sorrow for all followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom, and all New Zealanders, it said.
He was the 7th ruler towards the Kiingitanga in 1858 formed to rally the Indigenous tribes of Maaori in New Zealand against British conquest.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has shared his view on King Tuheitia and said the future he envisioned was for all people to be accorded dignity and respect.
‘Today, we pay our last respect to our very own Kiingi Tuheitia. His loyalty and dedication towards his people and his passion for the preservation of the principles and tenets of the Kiingitanga are simply unmatched,’ said Luxon on X.
In recent months, Tuheitia has convened M āori unity talks as a response to the policies imposed by Luxon’s right-wing government. According to this article, the government has been called anti-Māori over its attempts to repeal policies that benefited the Aboriginal population and activated the use of the Indigenous language.
Speaking for the New Zealand constitutional king, King Charles III, Tuheitia’s sad demise together with Queen Camilla was expressed in these sentences “I have had the greatest pleasure of cross-cultural relations with Tuheitia Kiing the head of the Maori King movement. He was a visionary leader, who possessed an undeterred focus for a better Aoteroroa New Zealand and mainly for the Maori people, based on culture and restoration ideals which he did so with thoughtfulness and pragmatism. ’’
Last week more thousands of people made a pilgrimage to Turangawaewae Marae, the headquarters of the Maori king movement at Ngāruawahia for the yearly procession celebrating the day of the kings’ coronation before the demise of Tuheitia. The house of chiefs is occupied by the Tainui people of the Waikato region as the king’s throne remains vacant; King Tuheitia was unlikely to be beaten to displace Tuithi. According to AP, Tuheitia’s body is reportedly to be taken to Turangawaewae Marae where it will lie in state for 5 days before being buried at Taupiri Mountain.
