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'Ilima Lei Tohi

ʻIlima Lei Fifita Tohi is the illegitimate daughter of King George Tupou V of Tonga.

Although the king is unmarried and has no legal heir, there is no way that he ever could adopt or elevate his daughter into higher ranks. Both Tongan culture and the Tongan constitution are very clear about that.

• In traditional Tongan culture one may inherit lands and status and so forth from one's father, but one's rank in society is solely determined by one's mother. In practice, of course, highranking women will only marry high status chiefs and the reverse. Anything else would be an illegal bond. The hypothetical case of the son of a queen and a beggar, that child may be following his father in asking for alms along the road, but would sit as a royal among the chiefs of the country. Conversely the son of a king and a woman of no rank, even if he would become (for example) a rich and influential businessman, still he will always crawl in the dust in front of the traditional chiefs as any other commoner. Likewise relations hold for any daughter.
• The articles in the Tongan constitution about the line of succession are very clear about stating a legal marriage, which is with the knowledge of the traditional viewpoint given above, much easier to understand.

ʻIlima was born in 1974, lived in Fasi mo e afi, attended Queen Salote College and later, 2 December 1997, married a police officer from Lapaha, Tulutulumafua ʻi Olotele Kalaniuvalu. They have three children. The previous King, 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.

She has now 3 children and is currently (2007) working at the Tongan ministry of training, employment, youth and sports.

References

• The madness of King George of Tonga, 17 September 2006
• Tonga on the net, snapshots, 27 November 1997