Tupou V’s body arrives home
With a blend of Polynesian tradition, Western military precision and Chinese diplomacy, the body of Tonga’s King George Tupou V arrived home yesterday.
Although Tongatapu will have exhausted its supplies of black and purple cloth, the arrival of the king’s body, a week after he died in Hong Kong, was not greeted with the overwhelming emotion that accompanied the return of his father’s body from New Zealand six years ago.
Tupou V’s funeral today was brought forward a day by his brother, the new King Tupou VI. No official explanation was given but officials said the new king realised Tonga, facing financial default on its foreign borrowings – mainly from China – wanted to save costs.
The late king’s body arrived on a China Southern airlines Airbus A330, direct from Hong Kong, upsetting some of Auckland’s 40,000 Tongans who had wanted to pay respects there.
China, which funded many of the late king’s commercial activities before he became king, paid for the flight.
As the plane came to a stop, much of the Tonga royal family walked out to meet it, some of them draped in woven mats. Some battered mats were plainly ancient treasures of the Tupou family.
The new king, who was with his brother when he died, was first to leave the plane. Tongan marines slowmarched out to lift the body from the plane.