George Tupou II

Who was George Tupou II?

Siaosi Tupou II, King of Tonga was the King of Tonga from 18 February 1893 until his death. He was officially crowned at Nukuʻalofa, on 17 March 1893. He was also the 20th Tuʻi Kanokupolu. In Tonga itself he was better known under the Tongan version of his name Jiaoji Tubou or even Tāufaʻāhau Tupou II.

Siaosi Tupou II was the son of Prince Tuʻi Pelehake also Prime Minister of Tonga in 1905, whose mother Sālote Pilolevu was a daughter of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou I, and he was the son of Fusipala Taukiʻonetuku, a daughter of Tēvita ʻUnga who was a son of Tāufaʻāhau Tupou I again: George Tupou I that is, the founder of the united Tongan kingdom. Tupou II's reign was troubled by government corruption and inefficiency. The Tongan Parliament in 1900 was suspicious of the King's governing and had his accounts audited several times, finding discrepancies worth thousands of pounds. The expatriate community in Tonga called for its annexation to New Zealand. Still he was a gentle person, a doting father to his oldest daughter Sālote and an artist who wrote songs and poems. In this he had much in common with his earlier Hawaiʻian colleague Kalakaua.