The youngest child and only daughter of Kingi Tuheitia and his wife Makau Ariki Atawhai has been appointed as the new leader of the Kingitanga movement. Kuini (Queen) Nga Wai hono i te po Paki was formally recognized in a ceremony where her father lay in state beside her, echoing the scene of his own ascension almost 18 years prior at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia, the center of the Kingitanga Movement.
As a direct descendant of the first Maori King, Potatau Te Wherowhero, who was crowned in 1858, she becomes the eighth monarch to head the movement, taking on her new role just weeks before the anniversary of her father’s coronation on August 21, 2006.
At 27 years old, Kuini Nga Wai hono i te po Paki is the second woman to assume leadership of the Kingitanga movement. Her grandmother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, served as the longest-reigning Maori monarch from 1966 to 2006.
Kuini Nga Wai hono i te po was educated at Te Whare Kura o Rakaumanga in Huntly and was awarded a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship in 2016. She graduated from the University of Waikato, earning a Bachelor of Arts before completing a Master’s degree with First Class Honours in 2022.
Born on January 13, 1997, she was only nine years old when her father ascended to the throne.