We live to serve

A sombre queen-in-waiting attends the funeral of her father King Koroki. She was crowned after his funeral and this weekend celebrates the 40th anniversary of her coronation. Picture / Wayne Harman

Rena Ngataki dabs the beginnings of tears from her soft brown eyes. They have started to redden, a colour that has spilled on to her creased cheeks. Then almost as suddenly, the tears are gone and her smile and cheeky enthusiasm returns.

It is difficult to pinpoint what prompted her emotion. Perhaps it was the recollection of times and people who have since passed on or simply the aroha the Waikato kuia - mother of nine and grandmother to "30-something" - feels for the Maori Queen, Dame Te Arikinui Atairangikaahu.

The 74-year-old allows little time to be questioned as she continues her korero and talks of pride in a lifetime of devotion to the Kingitanga, the King movement, headed by Dame Te Ata.

This weekend, festivities continue in a week of celebrations to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coronation of the Maori Queen.

Held at the movement's base at Ngaruawahia's Turangawaewae marae, the event is expected to draw tens of thousands to the Waikato township.

Dignitaries expected include the King of Tonga, Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright, Prime Minister Helen Clark, the paramount chief of Rarotonga, Pa Tepaeru Marie Ariki, and royalty from Samoa and Hawaii. Maori leaders from throughout the country are also expected to attend. The event runs until Tuesday, when the 74-year-old monarch, the movement's longest-reigning and its first Queen, delivers her address.

Ngataki remembers the day in 1966 when the then 34-year-old Piki Paki (nee Mahuta), a mother of seven and daughter of the late King Koroki, was crowned.

"I didn't jump for joy - from a woman's point of view. She is a woman, a wife, a mother, and she was getting locked into that. It is a big responsibility."

For the Waikato kuia, involvement with the Kingitanga has meant hard work and dedication, her role first as a young mother working in the gardens to grow food for guests, and making beds and cleaning. She later graduated to running the office.

She has seen many changes, and commitment to the Kingitanga remains unchanged. When asked what the Kingitanga means, Ngataki says one word: "dedication".

She slips between English and Maori as she talks of her history and the sayings of the "old people".

"When you live here, you speak it, you eat it, you live with it, you sleep it. My age group have worked all these years at the marae, for the Kingitanga. I think of the dedication in the old people. There was no self.

"The Kingitanga for me is aroha for the arikinui. In 1858 when the Kingitanga was formed, the Government took it as a threat to its authority. Today, we are still here and strong. We have whanau coming back from Australia, from around the country.

"It is our job to look after the Queen and her guests. It is very strong, it has kept us together. If she is welcoming guests we prepare for the day, mostly our people and our marae.

"If the guest requires lunch we prepare it. If it is an afternoon visit then we prepare afternoon tea. It doesn't matter who the dignitary is, or the occasion. Naturally, we may do a little bit extra for Queen Elizabeth.

"We are poor but we give all we have. We want to ensure the Queen can be proud when she has guests. I look at ourselves and I am proud of our people. Being strong as we are, I don't think any other iwi would have tended to these things as we have.

"It is the strength of the Kingitanga that gives us the strength, the mana, the wairua - all of those things.

"I get emotional when I look at the young ones and think of our old people, and I look at the way they are doing things. I am proud, the kids - our mokopuna - are still doing the things that need to be done.

"In another 40 years, I don't know. I don't know what is going to happen after her. She is probably going to outlive me. In the years that are coming up, things are going to be good. I hope so."