Coronation of nation’s 23rd king
George Tupou V was crowned as the 23rd king of Tonga today in an elaborate ceremony during which he was anointed with oil and a large gold crown was placed on his head.
George V sat on a golden throne in the capital’s Centenary Church with 1,000 guests, as Archbishop of Polynesia Jabez Bryce proclaimed he had been “anointed, blessed and consecrated” as king of the South Pacific nation.
The coronation had been delayed since 2006. It was Tonga’s first since George V’s father, Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, ascended the throne in 1967.
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