PHOTOSPEAKS

Crown Prince of Tonga snubs government officials by marrying his cousin in Royal Wedding Tells Government That LOVE COMES BEFORE PROTOCOL

Published

14 years ago

July 14, 2012

Tonga's Crown Prince Tupouto'a 'Ulukalala, left, and his bride Sinaitakala Tu'imatamoana 'i Fanakavakilangi Fakafanua leave the Centenary Church after a wedding ceremony in Nuku'alofa yesterday

Her name is just a little more difficult to pronounce than Kate Middleton.

But
the new bride of the Crown Prince of Tonga is brushing aside
difficulties foreigners have of addressing her, along with questions
about whether she should ever have married her cousin.

The
bride of the Pacific island nation’s Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala
is Miss Sinaitakala Tuk’imatamoana ‘I Fanakavakilangi Fakafanua.

All she was concerned about today was
the applause of her people as she and her husband were driven through
the streets of the Tongan capital, Nuku’alofa, in an open-topped car.
But behind the typically-colourful scenes of the national holiday following the ceremony was disagreement about the marriage.
His father, King George Tupou V, who
died in March this year, is said to have been against the marriage – the
first of a Crown Prince in 65 years.

He and his advisors believed the blood ties of the 27-year-old prince and his 25-year-old lover were too close. His bride, a former teacher, is 26th in line to the throne.

The
government and royal officials have long been against marriage between
cousins – as well as between royals and commoners – but Prince Tupouto’a
has told his advisers that love comes before protocol.