To quote Shakespeare, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.
The Māori King, Tūheitia Paki, achieved all three.
From the ancestral line of the kiingitanga, the son of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Whatumoana Paki knew he was born to royalty.
However, although he was the eldest son, it was not expected that he would ascend to the throne when his mother died in 2006 — the position of Māori monarch is not hereditary by right and it was expected that the leaders of the tribes associated with the Kiingitanga would select his sister Heeni for the role.
However, the rangatira saw something in Tūheitia Paki that others, perhaps even himself, did not see and deemed that he should become king.
Once crowned, Kiingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII did indeed achieve greatness.
The outpouring of grief and enormous respect shown to his memory at Tūrangawaewae Marae this week have been an extraordinary demonstration of how the king succeeded in transcending political, racial and social divides with his message of kotahitanga — unity.
Tūheitia Paki was born on April 21 1955 and grew up around Waahi near Huntly. He started his schooling at Rakaumanga but at the age of 8, like his mother before him, was sent to a Pākehā school in Hamilton — in his case Southwell School — before going on to boarding school at St Stephen’s College, Bombay.
His time at St Stephen’s was highly influential and fondly recalled: a delegation of old boys from the college were given a warm welcome to the marae during this week’s tangi.
Tūheitia spent his final year of school at Huntly College before entering the workforce. He was a meat worker and farmhand before joining the army, serving for three years in the artillery. He then joined the construction crew building the Huntly Power Station.
A quiet, unpretentious truck driver who liked nothing more than tinkering with cars or watching rugby league, Tūheitia and his wife Te Atawhai built a home in Huntly at Waahi Marae, where they raised their two sons Whatumoana and Korotangi and daughter, Ngā Wai hono i te po Paki.
The family home forever remained the family home, despite his eventual elevation in stature.
He was also actively involved in kapa haka and was a founding member of the Huntly-based Taniwharau Culture Group: in later life he was to be a dedicated patron of Te Matatini, Māoridom’s largest cultural festival.
As his working life ensued, culture became his new vocation and he was eventually appointed as a cultural adviser to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, having earlier its Huntly campus.
Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu died in 2006, after a long and significant reign during which she repositioned the Kiingitanga, which had been founded in 1858, for the modern world.
Tūheitia seldom spoke to the media, but candidly admitted in a 2008 Mana magazine interview that he had not expected to be named king on the day of his mother’s burial: he had expected the kiingitanga to descend to his sister Heeni.
His new job was overwhelming at first, and Kiingi Tūheitia was trying to juggle his new responsibilities with his own indifferent health.
Back in 2006 the newly created Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII had his mother’s example to follow, but he soon began to fashion the kiingitanga in his own manner.
Although seldom overtly political, the king used his position of leadership to influence the political process.
Like the monarchs before him Kiingi Tūheitia maintained close ties with the Labour Party, and he was close to former prime minister Helen Clark.
However, he was also quick to assert that the king’s support was not something that Labour could count on, once publicly endorsing the Māori Party, much to Labour’s chagrin.
As his reign proceeded, Kiingi Tūheitia evolved a philosophy of kotahitanga to guide him in his duties.
Acutely conscious, and personally sympathetic, to the renaissance of Māori culture, values and political aspirations, he was also shrewd enough to realise that the rising tide had to support all waka.
Although his contacts in the Maori political world were unparalleled, Kiingi Tūheitia remained in regular contact with prominent Pākehā MPs and party leaders, gaining their respect and friendship.
His mana meant that he could move in both worlds: as well as calling a national hui this year, at which Māori anger at the new government was well ventilated, he could simultaneously form a positive relationship with the prime minister at the head of that new government: Christopher Luxon was to give one of the most emotional and heart-felt eulogies at the king’s tangi,
having returned from an overseas trip to do so.
"The best protest we can do right now is be Māori," the king told the hui.
"Be who we are, live our values, speak our reo, care for our mokopuna."
As well as being an important figure in New Zealand, Kiingi Tūheitia became an important ambassador, both for Māori and for New Zealand. Foreign diplomats and international leaders often came to Tūrangawaewae Marae, or he would travel to visit them.
Members of other royal families forged close ties with Kiingi Tūheitia and he not only maintained the links his mother had established with Queen Elizabeth II, but he quickly built a relationship with King Charles III.
Kiingi Tūheitia was an honoured guest at King Charles’ coronation, and the King sent a sincere tribute to his fellow monarch upon news of his death.
In mid-August Māori and dignitaries came to Tūrangawaewae Marae for Kiingi Tūheitia's 18th koroneihana (coronation anniversary).
They were back a fortnight later, after Kiingi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII’s reign came to an end with his death on August 30, aged 69.
On Thursday, the day he was laid to rest on Mount Taupiri, his daughter was named Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, the eighth of her line to assume the crown.
Kiingi Tūheitia was also survived by his wife and sons. — Mike Houlahan, agencies
