The Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Nga wai hono i te po, is due to give her first public speech this afternoon – one year on from her father’s death and her ascension to the Māori monarchy.
It is tradition for the new Māori monarch to not make public statements in the year after the death of the previous monarch, as this is a period of mourning.
The loss of Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero will lend a sombre air to this year’s Koroneihana events for many.
Koroneihana is an annual event held at Tūrangawaewae Marae in Ngāruawāhia to mark the anniversary of coronation of the Kīngitanga (Māori King movement).
International and domestic leaders have visited the marae to honour the queen.
Asked how the Queen was feeling ahead of her first public speech, Kīngitanga spokesperson Rahui Papa said there was some trepidation but also excitement.
“I’m immensely proud of how she has carried herself in the year of mourning for her father and interacting with almost every iwi across the country.”
Papa said although grieving one’s father could be “quite a lonely place”, the Queen was surrounded and supported by family, including her brother, Korotangi Paki, who has been by her side throughout Koroneihana.
“Te Arikinui has held herself with dignity, I think, in the trying times of mourning the father whilst embracing the pressures of the office of the head of the Kiingitanga.”
Benjamin Moses is attending Koroneihana with his family, including his 6-year-old nephew, KJ.
Koroneihana was important to him because it united cultures, both Māori and non-Māori, he said.
“Our people are most important and our rangatahi. This is who we live for these young ones,” he said, pointing at KJ.
“[They mean] everything to us. We’re just there to guide and to look after them and make sure they get beyond us.”
A year ago today, the helm of the Kīngitanga was passed from Kīngi Tūheitia to his youngest child, Nga wai hono i te po.
Papa said the past year was one for mourning but also returning the love the Queen had been shown by the tens of thousands of people who had visited her father’s tangi.
“It’s not just about the mourning period, it’s about the reciprocation of the aroha when the thousands showed up to the funeral of her father. It became an obligation and responsibility to front up to a whole host of hui to reciprocate that aroha that was shown
“I’m immensely proud of her and her whānau, for completing that process that’s really hard sometimes, really emotional sometimes, but the preparations for today have been a year in the making.”
That anointment ceremony last year at Tūrangawaewae Marae involved hundreds of people and was watched by thousands as the new monarch sat in the throne next to the casket holding her father, which was draped in a korowai.
In a deeply emotional procession, the new Māori Queen then travelled from Tūrangawaewae with her father’s casket by waka down the Waikato River to the base of Taupiri Maunga.
Kīngi Tūheitia was taken to rest at Taupiri Maunga – a significant site for the people of Waikato-Tainui, and where many of Kīngi Tūheitia’s ancestors, including his mother, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, are buried.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.