Siaosi Vuna Takitakimālohi (c. 1844 – January 1862) was a Prince of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, the only legitimate son and heir to King George Tupou I.

Life

Born around 1844, he was the only surviving son of Tongan King George Tupou I and

Sālote Lupepauʻu Sālote Lupepauʻu ( – 8 September 1889) was Queen of Tonga from 1845 to 1889 as the wife of George Tupou I. She was the namesake of the Queen Salote College. Life Born around 1811, Lupepauʻu was the daughter of Tamatauʻhala, ''Makamālohi ...

, Tupou's sole legitimate wife. His only full-blooded brother Tu'ukitau had died at the age of four in 1842. He was named ''Siaosi'' or

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

after his father, who in turn had taken the name in honor of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

of the United Kingdom while his mother was named ''Sālote'' or Charlotte after Queen

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her ...

. Prince Vuna's half-siblings include

Tēvita ʻUnga Tēvita ʻUnga ( 1824 – 18 December 1879) was the first Crown Prince of Tonga, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Tonga, Prime Minister of Tonga. Life Born in 1824 to Tuʻi Haʻapai George Tupou I, Tāufaʻāhau and one of his secondary wi ...

and Sālote Mafileʻo Pilolevu, who were repudiated by their father as illegitimate offspring along with their mothers, who were his secondary consorts, after his marriage in 1834 to Prince Vuna's mother under Christian rites. His mother was the former wife of

Laufilitonga Fatafehi Laufilitonga (24 August 1797 – 9 December 1865) was the 54th and last Tui Tonga, a dynasty of kings in Tonga during the Tui Tonga Empire. Biography Only little is known about Laufilitonga's life. Laufilitonga was the oldest so ...

, the last

Tuʻi Tonga The Tuʻi Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the tenth century with the mythical ʻAhoʻeitu, and withdrew from political power in the fifteenth century by yielding to the '' Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua''. The title ended with the dea ...

, and his maternal great-great grandmother was Nanasipauʻu, who held the high rank of Tuʻi Tonga Fefine. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Prince Vuna died in January 1862, unmarried, leaving his father without an heir. His death was greatly mourned by the people of Tonga. At the prince's funeral, the King allowed his subjects to restore the traditional rite of ''tukuofo'', the offering of mats and food to the dead. This gesture prompted the presiding Reverend William George Richard Stephinson to openly reprimand the King and discipline the native participants resulting in a brief rift between the King and the

Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church or Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a United States-based Christian denomination headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, with congregations across North America, th ...

. The succession would remain vacant for thirteen years until the promulgation of Tonga's first constitution in 1875, which legitimized Vuna's half-brother Tēvita ʻUnga and named him Crown Prince. King Tupou I would outlive ʻUnga and all three of his grandchildren; he was succeeded by his great grandson George Tupou II.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vuna Takitakimalohi Tongan royalty 1840s births 1862 deaths Tongan Methodists Heirs apparent who never acceded People from Tongatapu Sons of kings Crown princes