King Tuheitia's youngest child and only daughter has been named as the eighth Māori monarch in a ceremony at Tuurangawaewae marae today.
Tekau-maa-rua, the Kiingitanga advisory council, chose Te Puhi Ariki Ngawai Hono i te Po Paki, 27, to succeed her father.
Its chair, Che Wilson, said Thursday's ceremony dated back eight generations.
"We follow the tikanga of our ancestors who created the Kiingitanga to unify and uplift our people and we have chosen Nga wai hono i te po as our new Monarch."
Te Puhi Ariki Ngawai Hono i te Po Paki is the second female Māori monarch.
The first woman to hold the position was her grandmother, Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu, who died in 2006.
Thousands of mourners are in Ngaaruawaahia to attend the funeral of the former Māori King Tuheitia.
Head of the Kiingitanga movement, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII died on Friday, aged 69, after heart surgery.
Since then, Tainui have been hosting mourners and dignitaries from throughout the motu and further afield, who have come to pay their respects, at the tangihanga at Tuurangawaewae Marae.
The ceremony is being followed by the funeral service for Kiingi Tuheitia.
Events on Thursday were expected to create major traffic disruptions, including for motorists on State Highway 1, and authorities have warned those not attending the events at Tuurangawaewae to take a different route.
RNZ's Māori news director Taiha Molyneux said the people working hard to look after the visitors this week didn't really get a chance to mourn until everybody goes home.
Emotions were heightened but people were working hard, she said.
"It'll hit them (after today when people leave) because there's nothing keeping them occupied, keeping them busy."
The idea of the kiingitanga came from Māori visiting England in 1852, he said.
"Tamihana Te Rauparaha had met with Queen Victoria and came away very impressed and thought why don't Māori have a monarch of our own, somebody that Māori can unite around."
At the time a Parliament had been set up in New Zealand that Māori were excluded from, O'Malley said.
The relationship between the Māori and British monarchs had been "warm" since the 1950s, he said.
STATEMENT FROM TEKAU-MAA-RUA ME NGAA RANGATIRA O TE MOTU
Rangatira from across the motu have today chosen Nga wai hono i te po as their Queen, the eighth Maaori monarch and successor to Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII.
The new monarch was raised up in a ceremony known as Te Whakawahinga, in front of thousands of people gathered for the tangihanga of Kiingi Tuheitia.
After the Karakia Whakawahinga, Tumuaki Hone Taamihana placed a bible on the head of Nga wai hono i te po, using the same bible that Tumuaki Wiremu Taamihana used to raise up the first Maaori King Pootatau Te Wherowhero in 1858.
Archbishop Don Tamihere said a Karakia and used sacred oils to bestow prestige, sacredness, power and spiritual essence upon Kuini Nga wai hono i te po.
Te Whakawahinga was followed by a funeral service for Kiingi Tuheitia after which he was carried by waka to the sacred Tainui burial ground of Taupiri Maunga.
Tekau-Maa-Rua Chairman Che Wilson says Te Whakawahinga is an important ceremony dating back for eight generations to Pootatau Te Wherowhero.
“We follow the tikanga of our ancestors who created the Kiingitanga to unify and uplift our people and we have chosen Nga wai hono i te po as our new Monarch.”
