Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe

Halaevalu Mata'aho (born 29 May 1926) is the mother of the deceased King George Tupou V and the reigning King Tupou VI of Tonga, as well as the widow of King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, who died in 2006.

Biography

Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe was born on 29 May 1926, the oldest daughter of ‘Ahome’e (Manu-‘o-pangai) and his wife, Heuʻifanga, a great-granddaughter of the last King of the Tuʻi Tonga Empire. The Queen Mother is a great-great-granddaughter of Maʻafu. Halaevalu Mataʻaho married her husband, Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV, on June 10, 1947.Taufa'ahau Tupou IV died in 2006.

The Queen Mother celebrated her 85th birthday in 2011 with a five-day celebration held in May. The celebrations began with a Garden Party for more than one hundred Tongan women held at the home of the President of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, Rev. Dr. ‘Ahio. The Queen Mother attended a Catholic mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Ma'ufanga with King Siaosi Tupou V on May 26, 2011. The Tongan Ministry of Education, Women Affairs and Culture held a student celebration for her birthday on May 27, with of primary school students from Pangai Lahi to Teufaiva Park, including presenting the Queen Mother with birthday gifts. A private party was held in Ha'avakatolo the next day, followed by a church service held at Centennial Church on Sunday, May 29, with a royal luncheon at the Royal Palace in Nukuʻalofa.

Queen mother

A Queen mother is a dowager queen who was the mother of the reigning monarch (or an empress mother in the case of an empire). The term has been used in English since at least 1577. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world.

"The Queen Mother" usually refers to Elizabeth The Queen Mother, 1900–2002 (queen, 1936–1952; queen mother, 1952–2002), who was the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and held the status of queen mother for 50 years.

Status

A widowed queen consort, or dowager queen, has an important royal position (regardless whether or not she is the mother of the reigning sovereign) but does not normally have any rights to succeed a king as monarch on his death unless she happens to be next in line to the throne (one possibility would be if the King and Queen were also cousins and childless, the King had no other siblings, and she in her other position as his cousin was also his heiress presumptive).

Royal Highness

Royal Highness (abbreviation HRH) is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes other than monarchs and their female consorts (i.e., kings and queens). When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it takes the form "Your Royal Highness". When used as a third-person reference, it is gender-specific (Her Royal Highness or His Royal Highness, both abbreviated HRH) and, in plural, Their Royal Highnesses (TRH).

Holders of the style Royal Highness generally rank below holders of the style Imperial Highness, but above those addressed as Grand Ducal Highness, Highness, Serene Highness and some other styles.

Origin

By the 17th century, all local rulers in Italy adopted the style Highness, that was once used by kings and emperors only. According to Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie, the style of Royal Highness was created on the insistence of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Cardinal-Infante of Spain, a younger son of King Philip III of Spain. The Archduke was travelling through Italy on his way to the Low Countries and, upon meeting Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, refused to address him as Highness unless the Duke addressed him as Royal Highness. Thus, the first use of the style Royal Highness was recorded in 1633. Gaston, Duke of Orléans, younger son of King Henry IV of France, encountered the style in Brussels and assumed it himself. His children later used the style, considering it their prerogative as grandchildren of France.

Queen

A queen is a female monarch. Queen may refer to:

In government and monarchy

Royal

Royal may refer to:

Places

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