Tehauroa

Who is Tehauroa?

Rere-ao Te-hau-roa-arii, also given as Terii-hau-roa, was the Queen of Raiatea and Tahaa. In the Tahitian language, her name means "flying-in-the-world" and "perpetual peace" or "long governments of kings". She was the only reigning Queen of Raiatea.

She was the daughter of King Tahitoe of Huahine and his wife Metua'aro. Her grandfather Hihipa Tahitoe was the son of Vete'a-ra'i Uuru, the chief of Opoa, and grandson of King Tamatoa II of Raiatea from whom her family claimed the right to throne of Raiatea. She was the namesake of her grandmother Rereao, wife of Hihipa Tahitoe, who the daughter of Queen Maevarua of Bora Bora and sister of King Tapoa I of Tahaa and Bora Bora.

Her father succeeded to the throne after the deposition and banishment of the unpopular Tamatoa V in 1871, and she was named as his heir. In March of 1881, her father was in turn deposed by the Raiatean people for allowing the French to declare a protectorate over the kingdom. Consequently, in April, she was elected to succeeded him to the throne with a council of twelve district chiefs, four from Tahaa and eight from Raiatea. Her coronation was performed by Reverend Albert Pearse at Uturoa Church with due solemnity and rejoicings. In 1 October 1882, she outlawed the sale of alcohol from her kingdom, with the exceptions of religious or remedial uses. Another action of her reign was the revision of the Kingdom's law code. This version titled the Code of Tehauroa was the last revision to the constitutional law code; it outlawed the sale of land, permitted up to that point, and made Protestantism the only authorized religion. These changes were enacted to counter the influence of France, which had already declared Raiatea a French protectorate during her father's reign.