Kiingi Tuheitia was the seventh monarch in the Kiingitanga movement, holding a position created in 1858 to unite New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori tribes in the face of British colonization.
New Zealand’s Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, has died at age 69, days after the celebration of his 18th year on the throne.
Kiingi Tuheitia was the seventh monarch in the Kiingitanga movement, holding a position created in 1858 to unite New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori tribes in the face of British colonization.
Al Jazeera reports that aides for the king of the country’s Indigenous Maori people announced his death in statement, noting that the king who had been recovering from heart surgery died in hospital on Friday.
“The death of Kiingi Tuheitia is a moment of great sadness,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “A chief who has passed to the great beyond. Rest in love.”
Tuheitia died in hospital after heart surgery, Rahui Papa, a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga, the Māori King Movement.
Britain’s King Charles III, New Zealand’s formal head of state, said in a statement on Instagram, “My wife and I were profoundly saddened to learn of the death of Kiingi Tuheitia.
“I had the greatest pleasure of knowing Kiingi Tuheitia for decades. He was deeply committed to forging a strong future for Māori and Aotearoa New Zealand founded upon culture, traditions and healing, which he carried out with wisdom and compassion.
“My wife and I extend our deepest condolences to Kiingi Tuheitia’s whaanau and friends and all those who will mourn his loss. Our special thoughts and prayers will be with you at this most difficult and heartbreaking of times.”
The position has significant political and symbolic weight, but no legal status.
New Zealand media reported the king’s funeral was likely to take place next Thursday and that he would be buried alongside his mother, Queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu, and previous Maori kings on the sacred Taupiri Mountain.
Tuheitia succeeded his mother in 2006 to become the seventh Kiingitanga monarch, although the position is not necessarily hereditary.