Sālote returned home to Tonga in December 1911 and immediately fell back into her role of royal princess. She regularly attended the Free Wesleyan Church and joined her father and stepmother for ceremonies and engagements. Early in the new year, Sālote’s grandfather became ill, and the family visited him on Fafa Island. He died in November 1912.
Sālote celebrated her 12th birthday with the traditional ceremony: prayers, the taumafa kava, the presentations of ‘umu with baked pig, fish, turtle and baskets of fruits.1 Her father gave her a generous allowance and then accompanied her to Vuna Wharf, where she was to board a ship bound for Auckland. It was to be her last year with the Kronfelds. ʻAnaseini Takipō was by then pregnant with her second child, and a second half-sister was born on 26 July 1912, ʻElisiva Fusipala Taukiʻonetuku.
Back in Auckland, Sālote began going to a regular school for half days. She learned of the birth of her half-sister via a telegram. She returned to Tonga for her summer holidays in December 1912, and she finally met her half-sister, who, despite being younger than her, was technically of a higher rank thanks to her mother’s lineage. However, Sālote was still first in the line of succession.
Her stay in Tonga was cut short as she was due to become a boarder at the Diocesan High School for Girls in Auckland. Sālote became a popular girl there, and she spent two carefree years there. Some of the other students also came from privileged backgrounds, and she fit right in. She returned home for the holidays at the end of 1913, and as her father was away, she spent some time with her young stepmother. Sālote missed the start of the new school year due to the arrival of one of the candidates for marriage, Tungī Mailefihi. She returned to school in March, but it would be her last year there. In August 1914, the First World War broke out. In December 1914, she returned home to Tonga.
The animosity towards her stepmother became more apparent. Sālote was annoyed at the Queen for her relaxed ways and her eating together with the servant girls on the veranda.2 She claimed that her father and ʻAnaseini Takipō were not well-suited and continued to “torment” her stepmother. The Queen’s family also insisted on treating her half-sister as the only royal princess. ʻAnaseini Takipō was from a higher female line than Sālote’s mother, Lavinia. Sālote would later claim that the women of their family had bad blood.3
In March 1915, Sālote turned 15 years old, and it had been expected that she would return to school in Auckland. Funds were made available, but Sālote never boarded the ship. Her father claimed it was due to the wartime tensions, but it was more likely that Sālote was now more clearly seen as the future Queen, and her education needed to be focused on the Tongan ways. In 1914, ʻAnaseini Takipō was one of the first recipients of the newly founded Tongan Order of the Crown, and she was appointed as Knight Grand Commander. Tonga declared neutrality despite being a British Protectorate but eventually joined the United Kingdom in the war.
Sālote lived at her father’s court until 1917, but she no longer attended school. She was surrounded by a group of girls her own age who were from an aristocratic background. They looked after her and slept with her. She received lessons in the descent lines of the chiefly lineages and tradition Tongan customs. However, she received no education on how to be a Queen and she was to become Queen sooner rather than later.
In early 1917, her father became ill and was clearly in declining health. Around this time, a suitor for Sālote was settled on, and he met with the approval of the Privy Council, the public and the royal family. It was Tungī Mailefihi. They were married on 19 September 1917. A press report stated, ” The Princess, in choosing her trousseau, showed a weakness for pastel tints, especially in blues and pinks. Lace, silver, and pearls play an important part in the adornment scheme of her bridal apparel. The wedding gown has a fashionable court train, which is 5 1/2 yards long and 3 yards wide. The elaborate gown is of Brussels lace over white silk taffeta and ninon with a pointed tunic of white crêpe de Chine. Silver and pearls edge the tunic, which is caught with silver tassels. Ivory white brocaded satin has been used for the court train, which is lined with white ninon and edged with innumerable frills of malines lace and ninon, and finished at the corners with silver leaves and orange blossoms. The bodice is of rich lace and silk with a trail of orange blossoms and silver leaves on the left shoulder. The whole is stitched with silver according to the bride’s wish, and the stitchery shows a gleam of silver through the lace mesh.”4 The Tongan tu’ uvala ceremony was celebrated two days later.
The newlyweds went to Latai, where they would spend some time living. Sālote was pregnant by October, but her husband had to leave her behind to return to his duties as governor of Vava’u. Meanwhile, her father’s health steadily declined. Sālote travelled to visit him, and shortly before his death, he returned to the Royal Palace. Sālote celebrated her 18th birthday on 13 March. Her father died of tuberculosis on 5 April 1918.
Sālote was now Queen.
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