Name: Deborah Rm: 14 Date 27/03/2012

1. Farewell To Tongan King George TupouV Name: Deborah Rm: 14 Date 27/03/2012

2. About King George Tupou V Full name =Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Reign = September 2006 – 18 March 2012 Coronation 1st August 2008 Born = 4 May 1948 Tongatapu, Tonga Died =18 March 2012(2012-03-18) (aged 63)Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong Father =Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV Mother =Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe

3. King George Tupou V body being welcomed home The family members of King George Tupou V waited in a special royal shelter at Nukualofa airport for his body to arrive on a chartered China Southern Airline flight after his passing in Hong Kong last week. School girls from Queen Salote High School sat beside tapa mats while members of the King's family including Prince Tungi, the King's nephew, approached the plane from the tarmac. The new King greeted his family as he entered the VIP chalet at the airport, walking past schoolgirls with bowed heads. As rain started to fall, those waiting were not allowed to cover themselves as a sign of respect. The white covered coffin was lifted by army officers. A special group of men called nimatapu, who are allowed to touch the King, watchedon as the royal flag was draped over the coffin. The only sound that could be heard was that of the plane engines.

4. Continue The white covered coffin was lifted by army officers. A special group of men called nimatapu, who are allowed to touch the King, watched on as the royal flag was draped over the coffin. The only sound that could be heard was that of the plane engines. Around thirty nimatapu took over from the military, following beside and behind the van that slowly made its way past the patient guard of schoolgirls, up to the chalet. The van left the airport, travelling to the Royal Palace, past thousands of mourning Tongans, all with their heads bowed as the final goodbye to King George Tupou V gets underway.

5. His Funeral Thousands of people, including international dignitaries, have turned up to farewell King George Tupou V of Tonga, who ushered in democracy to the South Pacific island nation. The royal was buried at the end of a two-hour solemn state funeral ceremony that mixed Tongan traditions with Christian hymn singing. The body of the King was put into the Royal tomb by the Nima Tapu - the sacred hands - who are the only people allowed on the tombs. • Tupou's body now lies entombed to be accompanied by the Nima Tapu for the next 10 nights to help ease his way into polutu, the afterlife. • The King died in Hong Kong on Sunday March 18, aged 63. A 21-gun salute boomed across the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa, where the streets had been draped in the mourning colours of black and purple.

6. Continue 1 Thousands of Tongans sat cross-legged three and four deep as the funeral cortege made its way from the Royal Palace to the tombs on board a fata, or platform, carried by 1000 men wearing traditional costume. Weighing five tonne and at a length of 20 metres, ONE News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver said carrying the fata is very heavy and dangerous work. Men were rotated in the job as 150 at a time carried the fata, topped with a tall black canopy, along roads lined with school children sitting on the footpath. They bowed their heads as the slow-marching military band leading the procession passed by. Hundreds of schoolgirls dressed in blue sat alongside the path into the tombs, and a choir performed sombre funeral music, bible readings, prayers and eulogies, mixed with Tongan traditions. The coffin was then carried by the royal undertakers over a wall, as dictated by tradition, to a grave next to the late king's grandmother.

7. Continue 2 Dignitaries from across the Pacific, including a large New Zealand delegation, representatives of the British and Japanese royal families and heads of government from around the Pacific, attended the ceremony. The New Zealand delegation led by Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae arrived in Tonga this morning for the funeral and flags on New Zealand government buildings are being flown at half-mast. Air New Zealand put on an extra flight to allow more people to return from New Zealand to grieve. The King's body was greeted on arrival from Hong Kong yesterday by hundreds of mourners lining the 35 kilometer road from the airport to the royal palace in the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa. Tupou, a flamboyant, bachelor king, was known for his eccentricities, such as being driven around in a London taxi and his penchant for ornate and elaborate uniforms and top hats. Shortly after the Oxford-educated Tupou ascended the throne in 2006, demonstrations demanding greater democracy turned into riots in which eight people died and large parts of the commercial centre of Nuku'alofa were destroyed.

8. Continue 3 Shortly after the Oxford-educated Tupou ascended the throne in 2006, demonstrations demanding greater democracy turned into riots in which eight people died and large parts of the commercial centre of Nuku'alofa were destroyed. The late king then relinquished most of his power in the last Polynesian monarchy to a broadly popularly elected government after 165 years of feudal rule. Tupou's younger brother, Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka, who was with him when he died, will be the new king, Tupou VI. Tonga, which comprises 170 islands, has a population of about 100,000 and lies about 2,120 km northeast of New Zealand. Its debt-stricken economy is dependent on tourism, fishing, growing crops, and earnings sent back by expatriates.

9. LL BE MISSED • That’s all have to say. • Hope you liked it 