Ngā Wai hono i te pō: Who is New Zealand's new 27-year-old Maori queen?

New Zealand ’s new Māori queen has been crowned in a traditional ceremony in which her father, King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, was also laid to rest.

Ngā Wai hono i te pō, 27, the youngest child of the late monarch, became the second Māori kuini, or queen, in a tradition dating back to 1858.

Her father died on Friday August 30 following heart surgery, days after the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

Mourners flocked to the North Island town of Ngāruawāhia, near Hamilton, on Thursday to pay their final respects to the late monarch and witness the accession to the throne of Queen Ngā Wai.

As she was escorted on to Tūrangawaewae marae – an ancestral meeting place where her father's casket lay draped in feathered cloaks – cheers rang out among thousands crowded around TV screens outside and waiting along the banks of the Waikato River to glimpse the funeral procession.

After her accession, Queen Ngā Wai accompanied the late king's coffin in a flotilla of traditional waka, or canoes, along the river as he was guided by Māori warriors to his final resting place.

Here is everything we know about the new queen.

Who is Queen Ngā Wai?

Born in June 1997, she is the youngest of three children of Tuheitia and her mother, Makau Ariki Ngā wai hono i te po, and is a direct descendant of all eight previous Māori monarchs. Her name, which loosely translates to “a connector of peoples”, was bestowed by her grandmother, the late Māori Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

She grew up in Waahi Pā, in the North Island’s Waikato region, with te reo Māori as her first language. A member of the kohanga reo generation, she attended full immersion Māori schools before going on to university.

She holds a master’s degree in Māori cultural studies and teaches kapa haka, the Māori term for performing arts.

The late king, Tuheitia, was a truck driver before he took the throne, and was a surprise appointment to the monarchy, which is chosen by a council and is not required to be hereditary.

But the new queen was groomed for the role and had accompanied her father in his work during recent years. She was nine when her dad took the throne, so has grown up watching him lead his people.

She has even represented the king on trips abroad, including to Buckingham Palace in 2022.

What is the role of the Maori ruler?

The Kīngitanga, or Maori royalty movement, has a ceremonial mandate rather than a legal one and was formed after the British colonisation of New Zealand to unite tribes in resistance to forced sales of indigenous land and the loss of the Māori language, Te Reo, and culture.

The Māori monarchy goes back to the 1850s, when tribes all over the country discussed the idea of appointing a king. They decided to appoint a tribal leader as the rapidly growing number of Europeans was putting pressure on the Māori to sell land, and they were losing control of their own affairs.

The Māori King movement is an enduring expression of Māori unity that today has an established place in New Zealand society.