The Year of Queen Sālote Tupou III – The early years of Queen Sālote (Part one)

On 13 March 1900, Queen Lavinia gave birth to her first and only child with King George Tupou II, the future Queen Sālote Tupou III of Tonga.

Sālote was born in the Royal Palace by the sea in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga. Her parents’ marriage had been quite controversial as King George had originally been meant to marry Princess ʻOfakivavaʻu, but he had chosen Lavinia instead. Due to the continued animosity of the rival factions, her parents were mostly confined to the palace.

Sālote was baptised in the Royal Chapel on 10 June 1900 with the name Sālote Mafile‘o Pilolevu, and she was named after her great-grandmother, the only daughter of King George Tupou I. The name Sālote originated from her great-great-grandmother, Sālote Lupepauʻu, who chose the name in honour of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz following her conversion to Christianity. Her husband, Tāufaʻāhau, took the name George Tupou I in honour of King George III.

Sālote would barely know her mother as Queen Lavinia died of probably of tuberculosis on 24 April 1902. She was still only 23 years old. She had been in ill health since the birth of her daughter, and she had recently attended the deathbed of her former rival, ʻOfakivavaʻu, who had died of tuberculosis in December 1901.

The maternal bond being rather important in Tonga custom, Sālote was now without a mother. It was expected that her maternal relatives would fill this gap. Although Sālote later said that her maternal grandmother, Tokanga, looked after her, there is not much evidence of her grandmother’s support. In reality, Sālote was cared for by attendants and nurses. She was raised to be a spoiled child, encouraged to bully her playmates, and she was well aware of her superiority. She was even carried up to the age of seven so that she would not touch the earth the commoners walked on.¹ Her father was loving and indulgent, but he did not shy away from corporal punishment, and once he beat her severely with a coconut-rib broom for lying.²

Shortly after her 7th birthday, Sālote was sent to live with her great-uncle during the week, and she returned to the Palace on the weekends. She was cared for by her great-uncle but also her great-aunt, Sela (Sarah) Kata, and Sela’s widowed sister, Lesieli Tongamohenoa (also known as Rachel Tonga). Sālote became particularly close to Rachel, who became both her teacher and a sort of foster mother. This connection continued for the rest of their lives. Like many in Tonga, they lived a largely European lifestyle. They dressed in Edwardian fashion, ate at a table and had a pet pug. Sālote began her day by making her own bed, and she started learning English. She received lessons from the primary school curriculum and also learned to sew.³

When Sālote was nine years old, her father remarried to ʻAnaseini Takipō. It was widely expected that they would have a son who would displace Sālote in the line of succession. In the tradition of Tonga, children from an earlier marriage were in danger of being killed. George claimed he was sending Sālote away for her education, but she was sent on the earliest possible steamer in December 1909, and she left without the customary companions. She was brought to Auckland and left with a family called Kronfeld.⁴ Luckily, Rachel accompanied her to Auckland and helped her to adjust to her new family for five months.

The Kronfelds lived in a mansion in Eden Crescent, and the family consisted of father Gustav, mother Louisa, and their ten children ranging in age from 27 to 7. All except for one still lived at home. Louise was a granddaughter of the Samoan high chief Fiamē of Lotofaga and thus qualified by birth to care for a Tongan princess.⁵ The 22-year-old Sam wrote about her, “Sālote was a very tall child … and shy to begin with, but it wasn’t long before she was absorbed into the family. Mother warned us that Sālote was to be highly respected as a Princess and the future Monarch of Tonga. Despite all this, she entered into the family and children’s affairs and was very happy.”⁶

Sālote shared a room with the Kronfelds’ 13-year-old daughter Minna, and the two grew fond of each other. From Minna, Sālote learned to love books. She later wrote, “It began with Minna. She and I had the same room, and she used to read at night. When she finished a book, she used to tell me the story. I made up my mind that I would read my own.”⁷

The Kronfelds hired an English governess named Miss Mabel Wallers for Sālote, as well as a piano teacher named Mr Sam Jackson. Sālote had often gone to church in Tonga, and she found a new church in Auckland, St Paul’s, which was an Anglican church. She was even confirmed there without the knowledge or consent of her father.⁸  Sālote was happy with the Kronfelds, but she was also very homesick. She wrote home, “I am very happy that you say I shall leave (Auckland) for Tonga on 5 December… I am quite dead with homesickness, for every day I wish I was in Tonga and I long for 5 December. I have really had enough of this land.”⁹

ʻAnaseini Takipō gave birth to her first child, a daughter named ʻElisiva Fusipala Taukiʻonelua, on 20 March 1911. Sālote never met this half-sister as the infant tragically died just five months later on 11 August 1911.

Part two coming soon.

1. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.10
2. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.11
3. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.40
4. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.13
5. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.44
6. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.45
7. Sālote: Queen of Paradise by Margaret Hixon p.47
8. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.13
9. Queen Sālote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900–1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem p.13