Viliami Tungī Mailefihi

Who was Viliami Tungī Mailefihi?

Viliami Tungī Mailefihi was a Tongan chief, one time Crown Prince, and consort of Queen Sālote Tupou III. He served as Prime Minister of Tonga from 1923 until his death.

He was the son of Siaosi Tukuʻaho, who served as Prime Minister of Tonga from to 1890 to 1893. Tungī's grandfather was Tungī Halatuituia. The line of Tungī chiefs from Tatakamotonga was descended from the then defunct Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua which in that time was more or less seen as an associate of the Tuʻi Tonga. As such they had the following from the people of Muʻa if not from the whole Hahake district. Concerning his mother's side, Mele Siuʻilikutapu, she was the granddaughter of the Tuʻi Vavaʻu: Fīnau ʻUlukālala. As the nephew of the childless King Siaosi Tupou II he was Crown Prince of a Tonga until the birth of the king's first child, Sālote, his future wife. In 1917 he represented the Tongan king at the coronation of King George V in London.

Tungī was educated at Tupou College, Tonga and Newington College, Sydney, commencing in 1896, aged nine. He was one of seven Tongan nobles to attend Newington at the time. He was a follower of the Methodist Church.