Tongan Royal Heir Engaged to Marry
Tonga’s Prince ‘Ulukalala celebrated his engagement on January 20th in Sydney, Australia. The 27 year old Prince who is second in line to the throne to due to marry 25 year old the Hon. Sinaitakala Fakafanua.
The engagement celebration follows a traditional Tongan ritual known as Faitohi in July 2011. Held at “Siatapu”, Ma’ufanga Nuku’alofa, the ritual is where a man courts and woos a woman. It basically is the Tongan way of announcing an engagement.
Prince ‘Ukukalala is the son of Crown Prince Tupouto’a Lavaka and Crown Princess Nanasipau’u Tuku’aho while Sinatakala is the only daughter of Princess ‘Ofeina-‘e he-Langi Fakafanua and the late Lord Fakafanua. The two are second cousins.
The couple will wed on May 4th 2012.
The announcement of the upcoming nuptials raises the question on how Tonga’s royals will manage to keep their blood blue as the number of eligible families shrink in the South Pacific nation. The way it used to be is that the heir to the Tongan throne of the Tu’i Kanokupolu dynasty kept its royal status by marrying members of the royal family to the descendants of the earlier dynasties, the Tu’i Tonga and the Tu’i Ha’a Takalaua.
That is no longer done and these days, there are fewer and fewer noble families to marry with. The Tongan royals now have to either marry their relatives or break with tradition and marry commoners – something most royals in the world are doing.
Sources: Taimi Online, Click Tonga Today
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