Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

Sir Jeremiah Mateparae (born 14 November 1954) is a former New Zealand soldier who served as the 20th Governor-General of New Zealand between 2011 and 2016, the second Māori person to hold the office, after

Sir Paul Reeves Sir Paul Alfred Reeves, (6 December 1932 – 14 August 2011) was a New Zealand clergyman and civil servant, serving as Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand from 1980 to 1985 and 15th Governor-General of New Zealand from 20 November 1985 to ...

. A former officer in the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

, he was Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force from 2006 to 2011, and then served as the director of the New Zealand

Government Communications Security Bureau The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...

for five months in 2011. Following his term as governor-general, Mateparae was the High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom between 2017 and 2020.

Early life

Mateparae was born on 14 November 1954 to the Andrews family in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

. He was given to his mother's brother, a Mateparae, to be raised in the Māori customary adoption known as '' whāngai''. His birth father and his adoptive father were both ministers in the Rātana Church. He is descended from the

Ngāti Tūwharetoa Ngāti Tūwharetoa is an iwi descended from Ngātoro-i-rangi, the priest who navigated the Arawa canoe to New Zealand. The Tūwharetoa region extends from Te Awa o te Atua ( Tarawera River) at Matatā across the central plateau of the North Is ...

and Ngāti Kahungunu tribes and also has links to Tūhoe and tribes in the upper

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

. He was raised in the Whanganui suburb of Castlecliff and attended Castlecliff Primary School, Rutherford Intermediate School and

Wanganui High School Whanganui High School is a large state co-educational New Zealand secondary school located in Whanganui, New Zealand. Founded in 1958, the school has a roll of 1479 students, including international students as of July 2018, making it the larges ...

Military career

Mateparae enlisted as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in the Regular Force of the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

in June 1972. In December 1976, he graduated from the Officer Cadet School, Portsea in Australia. He served in both battalions of the

Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army. It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve r ...

and in the

New Zealand Special Air Service The 1st New Zealand Special Air Service Regiment, abbreviated as 1 NZSAS Regt, was formed on 7 July 1955 and is the Special forces unit of the New Zealand Army, closely modelled on the British Special Air Service (SAS). It traces its origins ...

. He was a platoon commander in Singapore in 1979. Mateparae had two operational postings to peace support missions, one 12-month tour of duty with the

United Nations Truce Supervision Organization The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) is an organization founded on 29 May 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Established amidst the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its primary task was initially to provide the military co ...

as the Chief Observer in Southern Lebanon from May 1994 to May 1995, and commanding the combined-force

Peace Monitoring Group The Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea was brought about by the civil unrest on the island in 1989. The PNG government requested the Australian and New Zealand governments to provide a monitoring group to oversee the ...

on Bougainville during Operation Belisi in 1998. On 24 December 1999, he was promoted to

brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...

, in the post of Land Component Commander, Joint Forces New Zealand. From December 1999 to July 2001, he was the Joint Commander for New Zealand forces attached to the

United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), ( pt, Administração Transitória das Nações Unidas em Timor Leste), was a United Nations mission in East Timor that aimed to solve the decades long East Timorese cri ...

. In February 2002, Mateparae was promoted to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

and became the Chief of General Staff. The title was changed in mid-2002 to Chief of Army. On 1 May 2006 he was promoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on th ...

and took up appointment as the Chief of Defence Force, New Zealand's senior uniformed military appointment, which he held until 24 January 2011. On 26 August 2010, Prime Minister

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...

announced the appointment of Mateparae as Director of the

. Mateparae was appointed for a five-year term commencing on 7 February 2011 but stepped down from the role on 1 July 2011.

Governor-General of New Zealand

On 8 March 2011, Prime Minister John Key announced the recommendation of Mateparae as the next

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the Viceroy, viceregal representative of the Monarchy of New Zealand, monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 ...

. The

Queen of New Zealand The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, ascended the throne following the death of his mot ...

made the appointment later that day. On 31 August 2011 he was sworn in as the governor-general for a five-year term.Commission Appointing Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae, GNZM, QSO, to be Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Realm of New Zealand
(13 September 2011) 140 ''

The New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' ( mi, Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the New Zealand Government. Published since 1840, it is the longest-running publication i ...

'' 3971 On 20 May 2011, Mateparae was appointed an Additional Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and as an Additional Companion of the Queen's Service Order. He became Chancellor and Principal Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and Principal Companion of the

Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the p ...

upon taking office as governor-general, making him "His Excellency Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jeremiah Mateparae GNZM QSO". During the 2019 Operation Burnham inquiry Mateparae admitted to providing inaccurate information to Parliament. On 14 November 2012 Mateparae hosted a party for the 64th birthday of

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

who was visiting New Zealand, and for 64 New Zealanders, all of whom shared the same birthday of 14 November. In April 2013 Mateparae travelled to Afghanistan to mark the end of New Zealand Defence Force's deployment there. In June 2014, he attended the 70th anniversary commemorations of

D Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

with

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, other heads of government and world leaders, taking a number of New Zealand veterans with him. Mateparae expanded on a tradition started by his predecessor, Sir Anand Satyanand in 2012, releasing the Governor-General's New Year Message on video for the first time.

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

On 16 December 2016, it was announced that Mateparae would be New Zealand's next

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom The following is the list of ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom, or more formally, to the Court of St James's. High commissioners represent member states of the Commonwealth of Nations and ambassadors represent other stat ...

, replacing Sir Lockwood Smith in early 2017.

Personal life

Mateparae has three children with his first wife, Raewynne, who died in 1990, and two with his second wife, Janine.

Medals and awards

Murray Brennan GNZM investiture (Mateparae cropped)

Mateparae has a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

with

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

degree in

International Relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such ...

and Strategic Studies from the

University of Waikato , mottoeng = For The People , established = 1964; years ago , endowment = (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $263.6 million (31 December 2020) , chancellor = Sir Anand Satyanand, GNZM, QSO, KStJ , vice_chancellor = Neil Quigley , cit ...

, and received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Waikato in 2008. He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management. Mateparae was appointed an Additional Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

, for his service in Bougainville. In May 2011 the Singapore government awarded him the

Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) The Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) ( eng, Distinguished Service Order (Military)) is a decoration awarded to members of the Singapore Armed Forces and allied military members for exceptionally distinguished service or merit in senior comma ...

– Distinguished Service Order (Military). In June 2011 he was awarded

Knight of Justice of the Order of St John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

in regards to him becoming Prior of the Order of St John in New Zealand.

Honorary degrees

;Honorary degrees

Dates of rank

Arms

References

External links

New Zealand Governor General official websiteNZDF biography
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mateparae, Jerry 1954 births Companions of the Queen's Service Order Governors-General of New Zealand Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Knights Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Knights of Justice of the Order of St John Living people Chiefs of Defence Force (New Zealand) Graduates of the Officer Cadet School, Portsea New Zealand generals New Zealand Māori public servants New Zealand Māori soldiers Ngāti Tūwharetoa people Ngāti Kahungunu people Ngāi Tūhoe people People educated at Wanganui High School People from Whanganui Recipients of the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) University of Waikato alumni