'Ilima Lei Tohi

Who is 'Ilima Lei Tohi?

ʻIlima Lei Fifita Tohi, also known since her marriage as 'Ilimalei Kalaniuvalu, is the illegitimate daughter of late King George Tupou V of Tonga.

ʻIlima lived in Fasi mo e afi, attended Queen Salote College, and on 2 December 1997, married Tulutulumafua ʻi Olotele Kalaniuvalu, a police officer from Lapaha, with whom she has three children. The previous king of Tonga, her grandfather, Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, and other members of the Royal Family, attended her wedding in the Free Wesleyan Church of Fasi mo e afi. As of 2007, ʻIlima is living in Niutōua and working in Nukuʻalofa at the Tongan ministry of training, employment, youth and sports.

Although the king was unmarried and had no legal heir, Tongan constitution and culture dictate that it was not possible for him to raise his illegitimate daughter to higher ranks in the monarchy. The articles in the constitution of Tonga regarding the country's line of succession state clearly that only a child of a legal marriage can succeed the throne of his or her parent. Additionally, in traditional Tongan culture, one may inherit land and status from one's father, but one's rank in society is determined solely by one's mother. In a hypothetical situation in which a beggar marries a queen and has a son who chooses to follow in his father's footsteps, Tongan culture dictates that the son would sit as a royal among the chiefs of the country. In practice, of course, high-ranking women will only marry high status chiefs and vice versa, because to do otherwise is illegal. In a hypothetical situation that is reversed, for example a prince marries a woman of no rank, the child would be like any other commoner of the country in the eyes of the country's chiefs, even if he became, for example, a rich and influential businessman.