King buried

27-year-old Nga Wai Hono i te Po new Maori queen

(Bild: APA Pool/AFP/KIINGITANGA/Handout)

Maori King Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero has been buried in New Zealand amid the sympathy of tens of thousands of mourners. His youngest daughter Nga Wai Hono i te Po was chosen by the tribal leaders as his successor.

After being laid out for several days, the body of the deceased king was taken in a procession of canoes along the Waikato River to his final resting place at the sacred Taupiri Mountain, about 100 kilometers south of the city of Auckland on New Zealand's North Island.

Youngest daughter chosen as successor
Tuheitia died at the end of last week a few days after the 18th anniversary of his coronation at the age of 69. He had been in poor health for years and had recently undergone heart surgery.

Before the funeral, his youngest daughter Nga Wai Hono i te Po had been chosen by tribal leaders as his successor. The 27-year-old is the eighth monarch of the indigenous population of the Pacific state since the "Kiingitanga" (Maori King Movement) was founded in 1958 with the aim of uniting the indigenous people under a single ruler.

Nga Wai Hono i te Po

(Bild: APA Pool/AFP/KIINGITANGA/Handout)

Only the second woman to hold office
After her grandmother, she is only the second woman to hold this office. The title of Maori king is not hereditary, but all regents are direct descendants of their predecessors. The new queen, who wears the traditional face tattoo "Ta moko", also followed her father's coffin in a canoe.

Thousands lined the streets and the river and bid farewell to the much-loved king, who was considered very modest, with haka (a ritual dance) and waiata (singing). His widow was escorted to the mountain by the New Zealand armed forces and a motorcade of 100 motorcycles. The coffin was then carried by bearers on ropes to the summit of Taupiri Mountain for burial.

Spiritual significance
The mountain has great spiritual significance. Tuheitia was buried there alongside his mother Te Arikinui, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, who died in 2006 and had previously been Queen for 40 years.

Maori kings have no power at state level, but they play a major symbolic and cultural role in uniting the various Maori tribes and thus exert national influence. Above all, it is about protecting and defending the rights of the indigenous population. Around 900,000 Maori live in New Zealand today, which is just over 17 percent of the population.