The Year of Queen Sālote Tupou III – The wedding of Sālote’s parents

The future Queen Sālote’s parents, King George Tupou II and Queen Lavinia, were married on 1 June 1899 in a European-style wedding.

George wore a blue uniform laced with gold and medals. The New Zealand Herald reported, “A crimson
velvet mantle hung from his shoulders, the ends being borne by two little pages in medieval costume.”¹

He also wore a crimson mantle. Lavinia wore a wedding gown of satin, a veil and orange blossoms, and she was accompanied by six bridesmaids who also wore satin. Her dress was “of the richest white Duchesse satin”, the bodice was adorned with “a handsome pearl and bead trimming, chiffon, and lace.” The six-yard-long court train of brocade was carried by her bridesmaids, and Lavinia’s slippers were “white satin braided with white and silver.”²

The ceremony was performed by Reverend Jabez Bunting Watkin.

After a choir had sung the wedding anthem, composed by the King himself, George placed a diadem on Lavinia’s head and declared her Queen of Tonga.³

After a 101-gun salute, the wedding party went to the Palace and had a wedding breakfast at the Pavilion on the lawn.

A few days later, the Tongan wedding ceremony (tu’uvala) was held. This included exchanges of property between the chiefly families who were part of the alliance. The family of ʻOfakivavaʻu, who had been jilted by the King, was not present for either wedding ceremony, and the animosity would remain for many years to come. In the weeks after the wedding, it was rumoured that Lavinia had not left the palace since her wedding day in fear of her safety.⁴ Nevertheless, the new Queen brought ʻOfakivavaʻu a piece of wedding cake. The two had remained friends despite their families’s feuding.⁵

Songs were a traditional form of protest. In August 1899, the press reported, ” Scurrilous songs reflecting on Her Majesty are of almost daily publication. The average Tongan is actually a poet, and his genius displays itself nowhere more acutely than in the composition of insulting songs. These are sung by almost everybody and care is especially taken that copies shall reach the Palace by secret means to the annoyance of their Majesties.”⁶

1. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.24
2. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.24
3. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.7
4. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.17
5. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.25
6. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.25