“The face of renewal”: Who is the new Māori Queen?

Source: OpenClipart. 

In January of this year, Kīingi Tūheitia called for a series of nationwide meetings, asking for unity. As he lead and spoke to Māoridom, who felt their rights were slipping away, a young wahine stood beside him nodding in support. 

He spoke of rangatahi as the future leaders, unaware that his youngest child, would soon be the one to lead Māori. 

Aotearoa now welcomes a new Māori queen after his passing: Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te pō. 

As the eighth Māori Monarch, the 27-year-old is the second wahine to ascend the throne, after following in the footsteps of her grandmother, Te Atairangikaahu, who died in 2006.  

Before her crowning, the new Queen taught kapa haka during her tenure at the University of Waikato.  

While completing her Master’s in Māori Cultural Studies, she also sat on the University of Waikato Council, the Waitangi National Trust, and often accompanied her father during official engagements.   

Though Ngā Wai hono i te pō’s rise to the throne was not guaranteed, it was highly favoured.  

NZ First MP Shane Jones said it is more than just a generational shift. “She will be the face of renewal,”he said.

Jones’ statement aligns with Tūheitia’s own vision of rangatahi as future leaders.

“They're on their way,” Tūheitia told the public. “That kōhanga movement is coming through. They have answers for today and for tomorrow.” 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi lawyer, Annette Sykes, told The Guardian the new Queen symbolises the future she’s been striving toward.  
Sykes, who has long advocated for Māori rights, said “the revitalisation and reclamation of our language has been a 40-year journey for most of us and she epitomises that, it is her first language, she speaks it with ease.” 

She further told The Guardian “political, economic and social wellbeing for our people is at the heart of what she wants and in many ways she is like her grandmother, who was adored by the nation.” 

Sykes mentioned watching her grow up, and noticing her humility and thirst for authentic knowledge.  

“She’s someone who wears Gucci, and she wears moko kauae. She is leading us into uncharted and turbulent waters, and she will do it with aplomb,” Sykes said. 

Ngā Wai hono i te pō was chosen to be Queen on a council full of Māori men, signifying her role as “the new dawn” for not only rangatahi, but for wahine.