Newport Beach Has a King for a Day From Tonga

It was an entrance fit for a king, and that’s what showed up for a Sunday afternoon sail in Newport Harbor.

First there was the 20-foot length of red carpet rolled out from the courtyard of a big, gray home overlooking Newport Bay on exclusive Harbor Island.

Then the blue-coated Secret Service men arrived, and the Tiki, a 54-foot Polynesian-style party boat, steamed up to the private backyard dock. Finally came the limousine, replete with motorcycle escort.

And when the limousine door opened at 2 p.m. in front of 32 Harbor Island Road, out stepped His Highness Taufa’Ahau Tupou IV (pronounced Toe-fa-how Too-poe), King of Tonga, at 6 feet, 5 inches and 350 pounds an imposing Polynesian clad in fine gray pinstripe.

King Tupou was passing through Orange County on his way to Washington, where he has been invited by the White House to attend the National Prayer Breakfast, a bipartisan tradition dating back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s tenure in office.

The 67-year-old monarch, it seems, was mixing business with business on this visit to Orange County--his second trip here in two years. He said that most of his time has been spent meeting with members of Business Strategies Inc., a firm near Pasadena that is working on a long-term economic development plan for his tiny nation.

Tonga is composed of 150 South Pacific islands, of which only about 45 are inhabited, said Fitu Tafaoa, the Tonga government’s representative in Hawaii. Located near Fiji, the Third World kingdom covers only 270 square miles--less than New York City--and has about 103,000 inhabitants--just a bit larger than Newport Beach.

While Tonga’s economy is based on agriculture and tourism, it has only one hotel, the Dateline, which is located on the main island, Nukualofa, and its airport runway cannot bear the weight of a 747 or a DC-10, Tafaoa said.

On Sunday, King Tupou was the guest of Harold Voeglein, a member of the Orange County Protocol Commission, and Voeglein’s wife, Winifred. And although he enjoyed the cruise--”I’m interested in ships and boats,” he said--the taciturn Tongan had little else to say.

His plans: “I am going to the prayer breakfast in Washington.”

His nation’s future: “We are upgrading the airport to take 747s and building hotels and exploring for oil.”

His view of Disneyland: “I’m more interested in Mickey Mouse than Donald Duck. I’m interested in ducks. I keep ducks. Donald Duck is a Peking duck. I keep Peking ducks.”

His reason for upcoming meetings with President Reagan, Secretary of State George Schultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger: “They want to talk to me. “

But while His Majesty was a man of few words, those around him had much more to say. After all, for most of the small crowd steaming around in the Tiki, Taufa’Ahau Tupou IV was their first--and maybe last--king.

“This is the very first time I’ve served a king, and it’s wonderful,” said Ced Fields, the free-lance bartender passing out drinks as the Tiki motored past the Balboa Fun Zone and the Balboa Bay Club. “I’ve served President Nixon and President Reagan and Henry Kissinger . . . and James Roosevelt, but never a king.”

It might have been wonderful for Fields, but it was a bit of a letdown for Michael Jarrett, who was hired to videotape and photograph the boat trip.

“I envisioned a man with a crown and heavy velvet cape and jewels,” said Jarrett, who owns a private Irvine movie studio. “Still, you never can be disappointed when you meet a king. . . . It’s exciting. How often do you meet one? I’m young. This is my first.”