Maori king's daughter crowned as king buried

Twenty-seven-year-old Ng? Wai hono i te p? was chosen as Kuini by a council of New Zealand's indigenous M?ori chiefs during an elaborate ceremony in the country's North Island.

She is only the second M?ori queen, the first being her grandmother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Ng? Wai hono i te p? is the youngest child of King Tuheitia, who died last Friday at the age of 69.

Sitting on a carved wooden throne, the new queen was announced at a gathering at Tûrangawaewae Marae, which is the seat of the Kiingitanga or M?ori king movement.

She sat in front of her father's coffin, wearing a wreath and a cloak as prayers and chants were performed ahead of his burial.

A flotilla of war canoes then transported the king - who laid in state for six days before his burial - to his final resting place on Mount Taupiri, sacred to the M?ori people.

The king had been recovering from heart surgery in hospital when he died, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

"The death of Kiingi Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness for followers of Te Kiingitanga, Maaoridom and the entire nation," Rahui Papa, spokesman for the Kiingitanga or M?ori king movement said at the time. "A chief who has passed to the great beyond. Rest in love."

“Our country will be in mourning,” said Chris Hipkins, leader of New Zealand’s opposition Labour party, shortly after the king's death. “He was a fantastic king with a wicked sense of humour, but also a very good man… with a real focus on bringing New Zealanders together.”

New Zealand’s prime minister Christoper Luxon praised King Tuheitia as a leader "whose commitment to M?ori and all New Zealanders has been felt right across the country".

However, Mr Luxon – whose policies have been accused by some indigenous New Zealanders of being anti-M?ori – is on an official trip to South Korea and has not attended the funeral.

Last year thousands of protesters across New Zealand rallied against the government's plans to reverse policies which boosted Indigenous rights, including plans to close the M?ori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, set up during Jacinda Ardern's Labour government and to switch the names of some departments from M?ori to English.

King Tuheitia’s official period of mourning was extended from the usual three days to seven days, in order to accommodate the huge delegations that came to pay tribute to the king.

“I have never experienced anything like this,” Mereana Hond, a M?ori journal

It is no small thing to lose a king, but he was just really starting to rise to prominence, leading all tribes of Altara and New Zealand at a time when we're under a lot of political and social pressure under this coalition.”

The king was born T?heitia Paki in 1955. He was crowned in 2006 following the death of his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Like his mother, King Tuheitia was seen as a great unifying figure - recently calling on M?ori to stand together in the face of policies targeting them.

The M?ori monarchy dates back to 1858, when the M?ori people decided to create a unifying figure similar to that of a European monarch in order to try and prevent the widespread loss of land to New Zealand's British colonisers and to preserve M?ori culture. The role is largely ceremonial.

BBC