The king of Tonga enjoys his holiday while his people grieve for those lost in the Princess Ashika disaster. Photo / The Scotsman

The king of Tonga enjoys his holiday while his people grieve for those lost in the Princess Ashika disaster. Photo / The Scotsman

While his subjects struggle to come to terms with the country's worst maritime disaster, the King of Tonga, George Tupou V, festooned his chest with medals and saluted bagpipe players in Scotland's Edinburgh Castle yesterday.

But although the king's duties as designated salute taker for the Tattoo ended last night, he still won't be returning to his grieving island kingdom any time soon. Buckingham Palace, Downing St and the British Foreign Office confirmed King Tupou's appearance at the Tattoo was his only official engagement during his four-month European holiday.

Tongan Prime Minister Feleti Sevele, said last week that King Tupou's holiday couldn't be cancelled. Instead the monarch's departure from the shell-shocked island nation was marked with a 21-gun salute.

Away from the pomp in Edinburgh, a memorial service was held in Christchurch on Friday for Scottish-born Dan Macmillan whose body is one of only two recovered so far. At least 93 other victims are missing, presumed entombed in the ferry's upstairs passenger compartment. The ageing vessel sank quickly 11 days ago, 86km north east of the capital Nuku'alofa.

Macmillan, 48, had lived in New Zealand for 18 years and was a keen traveller who often opened his home to visiting backpackers, according to his flatmate Paul.

"He met the guy he was going to stay with in Tonga that way. He was really looking forward to the trip." Even after New Zealand Navy divers discovered the wreck of the Ashika in 110m of water, a week after the tragedy, some bereaved families are having trouble coming to grips with the finality of the tragedy.

New Zealand policewoman Sisiliah Puleheloto, 24, is among the missing, and her distressed family are still clinging to a hope that she is alive. Fine Puleheloto, of Otara, is the missing woman's aunt, but the two grew up in the same household and she considers Sisiliah a "little sister." Puleheloto's family are travelling to Tonga from Australia, Niue and New Zealand, and Fine says they are all clinging to hope. "We still think she's alive, down there, on the bottom of the ocean. Not only her, but the whole group of people is stuck there. And it's very sad. We keep praying, what else can we do?"

Niue-born Puleheloto boarded the Ashika to visit the outlying islands of the kingdom while holidaying in Tonga, accompanied by her brother Dwenelle. He made it to the lifeboats before the ferry slipped beneath the waves. Puleheloto was due to accept another year-long assignment in the Solomon Islands in October as part of the RAMSI peacekeeping effort, according to her aunt.

Most Tongan citizens are cautious about speaking out against their king, but his departure for Scotland, the day after the disaster, has caused not only anger but weary resignation. As journalist and royal critic Mateni Tapueluelu puts it: "Well, welcome to Tonga. That's how it operates. We can't vote him out, we can't elect him out. He can do what he wants to do."