From a truck driver to a unifier for Māori – Kīngi Tūheitia’s legacy

Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII was never groomed to be the Māori king, but he died yesterday leaving a legacy even his mother Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu would be proud of.
Surrounded by his wife Makau Ariki and their children Whatumoana, Korotangi, and Ngawai Hono I Te Po, the seventh of the line of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero to head the Kīngitanga, which was founded in 1858, passed away, aged 69, just a few days after his 18th Koroneihana celebrations.
And even though the Kīngitanga is not followed by iwi throughout Aotearoa, the mana that the Kīngitanga office holds is.
Tūheitia’s rise is similar to the historical figures of France’s King Louis XVI and US statesman George Washington, who committed themselves to a greater cause.
Labour MP Willie Jackson said Tūheitia – unlike his mother – was never groomed to be Māori royalty.
Even though he was the eldest son of Dame Te Ata, everyone expected his older sister Heeni to succeed their mother. But the Waikato-Tainui elders voted Tūheitia – a former South Auckland truck driver – would succeed after his mother, not long before she died in August 2006.
“Tūheitia never expected to be king,” Jackson told the Herald.
“He was not groomed for it. That’s why he is so special because he really grew into that role – in my view in the past few years.
“I knew his mum Dame Te Ata and she and her husband used to listen to my TV and radio shows and had no problem telling me when I was off the mark either. She was such a beautiful woman and when I stood against Nanaia Mahuta in 2002, I said to her ‘come on whaea don’t back your niece – back me’.”
“She wouldn’t say anything because she had so much class … I had a lovely relationship with her. But even back then Tūheitia was a quiet and humble bloke.
“He was a truck driver and going from that job to being the Māori king, man what a role reversal that had to be.”
Tūheitia was announced as Dame Te Ata’s successor and crowned on August 21, 2006, the day her tangihanga took place.
Born Tūheitia Paki, he was the eldest son of Whatumoana Paki (1926–2011) and Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu (1931–2006), who married in 1952.
Tūheitia was educated at Rakaumanga School in Huntly, Southwell School in Hamilton and St Stephen’s College (Te Kura o Tipene) in Bombay, in southern Auckland.
He had five sisters – Heeni Katipa (née Paki); Tomairangi Paki; Mihi ki te ao Paki; Kiki Solomon (née Paki); Manawa Clarkson (née Paki) – and one brother, Maharaia Paki.
He married Te Atawhai, who has the title Makau Ariki, and they had three children: Whatumoana, Korotangi, and Ngawai Hono I Te Po.
“It was a huge transition for Tūheitia to go from truck driving to leading the Kīngitanga and it took him a while to settle. It was not easy to go from where he was, to what was expected of him,” Jackson said.
“One advantage he had was he saw how magnificent his mother was.”
The role of the Māori monarch was one of expectations – including not to get involved in politics.
In his early years Tūheitia attended hundreds of events every year nationally and internationally. He was patron to several key organisations, including Te Matatini, the largest Māori Cultural Festival in the world; and Kirikiriroa Marae, a large urban marae in Hamilton that has frequently received international dignitaries, foreign diplomats, members of other royal families, and members of governments.
In 2014 Tūheitia notably received 26 diplomats to discuss international and trade interests for the Kīngitanga.
“In 2017, the Kīngitanga made it clear decision on who they were going to support because we knew Dame Te Ata would always support Nanaia Mahuta and Labour but this year, the Kīngitanga backed Māori Party candidate Rahui Papa,” Jackson said.
“He made it clear as a bell who the Kīngitanga was voting for and it was quite a volatile election.
“The next year he reached out to me and said ‘hey Willie, get over it’ and we did and started talking again.
“Over the next six years, I got to know Tūheitia really well and thought ‘what a neat fella’.
“He worked with Labour over the next few years in terms of Māori development and advancing Māori. He had a wonderful relationship with Jacinda and that continued with Chippy [Chris Hipkins].
“The king became a unifier for Māori.”
Last year Tūheitia issued a royal proclamation to hold a national hui (meeting) to promote Māori unity in January 2024.
The hui was in response to the Kīngitanga movement’s concerns that the new National-led coalition Government’s policies towards the Treaty of Waitangi would reverse decades of hard-won progress on justice for historical wrongs.
At Tūheitia’s 18th celebrations at Turangawaewae Marae a fortnight ago, Tainui speaker Tuku Morgan and Rahui Papa ripped into Prime Minister Christopher Luxon over his coalition Government’s agenda.
“But Tūheitia wrapped up the hui by saying we have to find ways to work together and not continue to drive edges between Māori and non-Māori,” Jackson said.
“He had become a diplomat because he knew his position could be used for positive matters and was always looking for ways to work together and not as separates.”
Jackson said after he returned from his Oxford debate, in May, he saw Kīngi Tūheitia.
“I ran into him at the Whakaata Māori birthday celebrations and he was very complimentary about the success at Oxford and the TV interview with my son,” Jackson said.
“He enjoyed watching that and when I saw him two weeks ago at Turangawaewae, he asked me ‘what’s this Prime Minister like?’
“He knew he had to do business with the Government and what the reality for Māori was.
“As for his legacy, everyone is saying what that is.
“His calls for unity and kotahitanga are the most clear calls from Māori leadership since the days of Hepi Te Teu Heu.”
Jackson’s former broadcasting host and Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere said Kīngi Tūheitia was a shining light in an often grim world.
“The Kīngitanga in our people’s darkest moments gave us light and hope.
“It is a Māori movement that never surrendered its mana.
“The passing of Kīngi Tūheitia is deeply regretted. Each of the holders of this great office brought their own sense of leadership.
“Tūheitia understood the working class. He was not brought up with bells and whistles. He had that common man’s touch and a wonderful sense of humour. We will miss that. But the movement lives on forever. Long live the Kīngitanga,” Tamihere said.
Joseph Los’e is an award winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.