Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō
Te Arikinui Kuīni
Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō in 2019
Māori Queen
Reign	5 September 2024 – present
Coronation	5 September 2024
Predecessor	Tūheitia
Born	Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō Paki (1997-01-13) 13 January 1997 (age 27)[1] Waikato, New Zealand
Regnal name Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VIII
Kāhui Ariki	Te Wherowhero
Father	Tūheitia
Mother	Makau Ariki Te Atawhai
Religion	Catholicism[2]
Education	University of Waikato (BA, MA)

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō (born 13 January 1997) is the Māori Queen.^[3][4] She was raised to the throne on 5 September 2024, being elected to succeed her father Kīngi Tūheitia. Her full name and title is Te Arikinui Kuīni Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō.^[5] Her titles Te Arikinui (meaning Paramount Chief) and Kuīni (meaning Queen) were bestowed when she became monarch. The youngest child and only daughter of Tūheitia, she is a direct descendant of the first Māori King, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, who was installed in 1858. She is the eighth monarch of the Kīngitanga, and the second woman to hold the position.^[5]

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō was born into the Kīngitanga royal family during the reign of her paternal grandmother Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. She is the youngest child of Kīngi Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII and Makau Ariki Atawhai Paki. Her early life was steeped in the cultural and spiritual practices of the Māori people, with a particular focus on the traditions of the Kīngitanga movement.

In 2024, following the death of her father, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō was selected as the Māori Queen by a wānanga (forum) of tribal leaders that was convened by the Tekau-mā-rua. Her coronation took place at Tūrangawaewae Marae, the seat of the Kīngitanga, in a ceremony attended by leaders and dignitaries from across the country and the Pacific. Her accession was seen as a continuation of the Kīngitanga's mission to unify Māori people and to protect their rights.^[6]

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō Paki was born on 13 January 1997, the third child and only daughter born to Tūheitia Paki and his wife Te Atawhai.^[6] Her paternal grandmother was Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the only previous Māori queen.^[4] She has two older brothers, Whatumoana Paki and Korotangi Paki. Te Atairangikaahu was on the annual Tira Hoe Waka canoe journey down the Whanganui River and had stopped for the night at Parikino Marae when she heard that her granddaughter had been born. She asked Whanganui kuia Julie Ranginui for a name for the baby, and together they settled on Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō (meaning "the waters joining in the night"), referring to the meeting of Waikato River people with Whanganui River people that night.^[7][8][4] Max Mariu, a Catholic bishop, baptised Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō in Huntly, at the request of Te Atairangikaahu.^[2][9]

Māori is her first language.^[10] She has been deeply immersed in Māori culture and traditions from an early age. When Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō was nine years old, Te Atairangikaahu died and her father became the Māori king.^[6][5] Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō travelled to Taumarunui with her family to receive instruction from priests for Confirmation in the Catholic Church and then celebrated Confession or Reconciliation in a chapel at Hopuhopu, near Ngāruawāhia. She was then Confirmed and received her first Communion at a mass held during the Koroneihana celebration in 2007 for the first anniversary of her father's coronation.^[2][9]

She had her school education at Te Wharekura o Rakaumanga, a year 1–15 kura kaupapa Māori (Māori-language school) in Huntly.^[11] She received a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship to study for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Waikato.^[12] She began teaching kapa haka in her second year at university.^[12][13] She finished a BA in Tikanga Māori and Reo Māori (Māori language) in 2017^[14] and then entered a Masters degree studying Tikanga Māori,^[12] which she completed in 2020.^[14] She received a moko kauae (chin tattoo) in 2016, at age 19, along with her mother and her cousin Nanaia Mahuta, to celebrate her father's tenth year on the throne.^[4][10]

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō's role within the Kīngitanga became more prominent in her early twenties as she began to represent her father at cultural and political events. In 2022 she met with then-Prince Charles in London.^[10] She was appointed to the Waitangi National Trust Board in 2020,^[4] and appointed to the University of Waikato Council for a four-year term in 2023.^[15] She was a board member of the Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development.^[15] She attended meetings of the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust board as a representative of the king, who was the patron of the trust.^[16]

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō acceded to the throne at the age of 27, the second-youngest to do so.^[10] Her accession was not automatic, as the Māori monarchy is not strictly hereditary.^[10] However, her growing prominence in recent years, including her participation in official engagements and representation of Māori interests, positioned her as a strong candidate. Upon her accession, she was younger than the youngest reigning monarch of a sovereign nation (Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the sovereign Emir of Qatar).^[5]

Tūheitia's death on 30 August 2024 triggered the selection of his successor by a wānanga (forum) of tribal leaders who choose her by consensus.^[17][18] The wānanga was convened by the Tekau-mā-rua (the Kīngitanga advisory council), a diverse group of prominent Māori iwi leaders, academics, executives, and politicians from across many iwi,^[19] and presided over by Tumu Te Heuheu.^[17] The announcement of her selection and her installation took place during the tangihanga (funeral) of her father, Kiingi Tūheitia, at Tūrangawaewae Marae.^[10] In this ceremony, known as Te Whakawahinga, the Tekau-mā-rua escorted her to the throne, a Bible was placed on her head, a tradition that dates back to the establishment of the role,^[10] and she was anointed by Archbishop Donald Tamihere.^[13]

On 22 October 2024, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō attended a national hui for unity at Tuahiwi Marae in North Canterbury focusing on indigenous economies. This was the third in four hui called by her father in response to the National-led coalition government's policies towards Māori.^[20]