King George Tupou V (Tongan: Siaosi Tupou V, full name: Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou V), (born 4 May 1948) is the current King of Tonga.
He is the eldest son of the late King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, and was appointed as Crown Prince on 4 May 1966. In daily life, he was better known by one of his traditional, chiefly titles Tupoutoʻa.
The new king attended primary school in Switzerland and secondary school at King's College in Auckland, and went on to study at Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England.
As crown prince, he held great influence in Tongan politics, and was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1998. He has substantial business interests in Tonga and abroad, and is co-chairman of the Shoreline Group/Tonfön. Once he had become king, his first proclamation was that he would dispose of all his business assets as soon as reasonably possible, as in accordance with the law.
The king is unmarried, and has no legal children. However, he has an illegitimate daughter, ʻIlima Lei Tohi, and through her, he is already a grandfather. The constitution of Tonga is clear, there is no way that ʻIlima ever can inherit the throne.
He was sworn in as king on 11 September 2006, which also made him, from a traditional viewpoint, the 23rd Tuʻi Kanokupolu (the overlords of Tongatapu).
A formal coronation ceremony is planned to be held on 1 August 2008. It was first scheduled for 2007, (after the official mourning period for his father (which will be 6 months for close relatives), and his own birthday), but due to the 2006 Tonga riots it was decided that he will give his attention first to the reconstruction of the destroyed capital. |