Friday, December 24, 1965
WHILE 50,000 Tongans and many representatives of overseas governments silently mourned, Queen Salote was buried on this day on December 24, 1965.
The only sounds while six Royal officers performed the last graveside ceremony behind a 10ft high tapa screen were the rustle of mourning mats worn by the Tongan people, the pounding of the surf on the reef and occasional uncontrollable sobs from the women. According to The Fiji Times in 1965, custom demanded that the final gravesite ceremony be hidden from the view of the people and that the mourners should remain silent as the deepest mark of respect for the dead ruler. The burial was a three-hour ceremony which began at the Royal Chapel with 108 men carrying Queen Salote’s bier.
“On the bier, beside the coffin, was the Queen’s senior retainer, Lauaki. The 100-strong Royal Guard escorted the bier. The new King, Taufa’ahau and the Queen, the Governor General of New Zealand (Sir Bernard Fergusson) and Lady Fergusson, the Governor of Fiji (Sir Derek Jakeway) and Lady Jakeway, the Governor of American Samoa (Rex Lee) and New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Mr Holyoake and his two daughters followed.
“Sir Bernard Fergusson was the representative of Queen Elizabeth,” describe the news article. “Throughout last night, silent groups of black-clad Tongans moved through the streets of Nukualofa or sat on the ground outside, the Palace, paying their last respects to the late Queeen. King Taufa’ahau decreed a six months official mourning period for Queen Salote.”
