Prince Viliami Tungī Mailefihi | |
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Prince Viliami and his wife Queen Salote
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Prince Consort of Tonga | |
Tenure | 5 April 1918 – 20 July 1941 |
7th Premier of Tonga | |
In office | 30 June 1923 - 20 July 1941 |
Monarch | Sālote Tupou III |
Predecessor | Hon. Tevita Tuʻivakano |
Successor | Hon. Solomone Ula Ata |
Born |
Tonga |
1 November 1888
Died | 20 July 1941 Tonga |
(aged 52)
Burial | Mala‘e Kula Royal Tombs |
Spouse | Sālote Tupou III |
Issue |
Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV Prince Uiliami Tuku‘aho Prince Sione Fatafehi Tu'ipelehake |
House | Tu'i Ha'atakalaua |
Father | Hon. Siaosi Tukuʻaho, 3rd Premier of Tonga |
Mother | Hon. Mele Siuʻilikutapu |
Religion | Methodism |
Viliami Tungī Mailefihi (1 November 1888 — 20 July 1941) was a Tongan high chieftain and Prince Consort of Queen Sālote Tupou III. He served as Prime Minister of Tonga from 1923 until his death in 1941.
Prince Tungi was the son of The Honourable Siaosi Tukuʻaho (Lord Tungi of Tatakamotonga) who served as Prime Minister of Tonga from to 1890 to 1893. Tungī's grandfather was Tungī Halatuituia. The line of Tungī chiefs fromhailed from the exalted village of Tatakamotong. They were descended from the defunct line of Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua High Chiefs, who in that time were more or less seen as deputy rulers under the Tuʻi Tong Kingsa. As such they had a fiercely loyal following among the people of Muʻa if not from the whole Hahake district of Tongatapu Island. His mother, Lady Mele Siuʻilikutapu was the granddaughter of the Tuʻi Vavaʻu: Fīnau ʻUlukālala III (Tuapasi). As the nephew of the young and unmarried King Siaosi Tupou II, Tungi was the Heir-to-the-Throne, until the King's marriage and the birth of his first child, The Princess Sālote, in 1900. In 1911 Prince Tungi represented the Tongan King at the Coronation of King George V in London.
Tungī was educated at Tupou College, Tonga and Newington College, Sydney, commencing in 1896, aged nine. He was one of seven Tongan nobles to attend Newington at the time. He was a follower of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.