King George Tupou V (Tongan: Siaosi Tupou V, full name: Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou V), (4 May 1948 - 5 Mach 2012) was the fifth King of Tonga and first Secretary General of the League of Nations.
Early life[]
Tupou V was born on 4 May 1948. He is the eldest son of the late King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV (b. 1918 - d. 2006), and Queen Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe (b. 1926). He was appointed Crown Prince on 4 May 1966. In daily life, he was better known by one of his traditional chiefly titles Tupoutoʻa. The king attended primary school in Switzerland and secondary school at King's College in Auckland and The Leys School in Cambridge, and went on to study at Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England.
Crown Prince and coronation[]
As Crown Prince, Tupoutoʻa held great influence in Tongan politics, and was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1979 to 1998.
King George Tupou V was sworn in as King on 11 September 2006 after the death of the former King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV on the 10th September 2006, which also made him, from a traditional viewpoint, the 23rd Tuʻi Kanokupolu (the overlords of Tongatapu).
Personal life[]
The King was unmarried, and had a daughter born out of marriage, 'Ilima Lei Fifita Tohi (born 1974).
Death[]
Six months prior to his death, the king had a successful surgery to remove a kidney following the discovery of a tumor. However, it proved to be all for naught, when on March 18th, 2012, the great diplomat passed away while in hospital at Brisbane, undergoing treatment for his battle with leukemia. Given his lack of legitimate heirs, his younger brother, ʻAhoʻeitu ʻUnuakiʻotonga Tukuʻaho, took the throne as Tupou VI.