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Te Atairangikaahu was the
daughter of King Koroki V, and a descendant of the very first Maori
King, King Potatau. She was born in 1931, and
went to school in the Waikato. She was brought up to be a leader, and
she became the first ever Maori Queen in 1966, after her father died. The successor to the role
of King (or Queen) is decided by the important elders, and does not go
simply to the oldest child of the previous King or Queen. When Te Atairangikaahu
was chosen as Queen, she was married, and a mother of 37, with seven
children.
She has been the sixth,
and the longest serving Maori monarch. This year there was a
celebration of the 40th jubilee of her coronation. Dame Te Ata was the first
Maori woman to be made a Dame, and holds honary doctorates from two
universities. Last year she became very
ill, and has been in hospital for much of the time. She came home on
the 15th of August 2006 to die surrounded by her family at the
Turangawaewae marae.
