Prince Tu'ipelehake passed away at Vaiola [1]
Monday, June 16, 2014 - 13:53. Updated on Monday, June 16, 2014 - 17:29.
Prince Tu'ipelehake (56) passed away at Vaiola Hospital, Saturday 14 June at 5.25 pm.
It is understood that he was admitted to Vaiola on June 2 with complications from diabetes. Prince Tu'ipelehake had been a diabetes patient for a number of years, and had previously undergone amputation of both legs.
Prince Tu'ipelehake, the 7th Tu'ipelehake, is survived by his third wife, Fifita Holeva. He has a son and a daughter, Sione Ngu Takeivulai and Deobrah Lavinia Mata-'o-Taone, from his first wife, Mele Vikatolia Faletau. At the time of his first marriage he lost his hereditary title of Prince because he married a commoner.
He later married 'Ene'io Tatafu.
Prince Tu'ipelehake would have celebrated his 57th birthday on 17 June. He was born in 1957, as HRH Prince Viliami Tupoulahi Mailefihi Tuku‘aho, the youngest son of the King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV's brother and a direct descendant of Queen Salote Tupou III.
The Tu'ipelehake is Tonga's second Royal House with estates at Pelehake and 'Alaki in Tongatapu, Vaihoi in Vava'u, and Lotofoa and Fotua in Ha'apai.
Prince Tu'ipelehake was a former member of the Tongan parliament and was one of Tonga's rugby stars. During the 1970s he was a captain of Tonga's national rugby team.
In 2006 he succeeded to the noble title Tu'ipelehake, previously held by his brother, the late Prince Tu'ipelehake who died in a road accident at Menlo Park, in California in July 2006, also aged 56 years.
In 2008 King George Tupou V made Tu'ipelehake the "Lord Protector of the Royal Regalia" and awarded him a new title of Prince.