Tongan Princesses Defy Royal Protocol, To Marry Commoners

High-ranking Tongan princesses are set to disregard royal protocols and marry commoners. Sisters Hon Salote Lupepau’u Tuita and Hon Frederica Tuita are bypassing the strict nuptial rules of the kingdom by marrying down and without the approval of their uncle, Kung Tupou VI.

Princess Salote, the sixth in line to the throne, will wed former Tonga rugby representative and currently the Tonga Rugby Union’s president Epeli Taione on Aug 17 in Fiji, according to Tongan news Web site NZ Kaniva Pacific.

Her younger sister, meanwhile, will marry Johnny Filipe, whose father is a well-known businessman in Nuku’alofa, Tongatapu.

The sisters are the daughters of Princess Royal Pilolevu Tuita, the king’s only sister, and one of the Pacific’s richest women.

The news of the princesses’ nuptials still reportedly caused uproar in the royal family. According to tradition, it isn’t normal for a high-ranking royal woman to marry a commoner or a much lower ranking chief. King Tupou VI has the power to have her nieces’ marriages annulled, but he is not expected to do so.

“It’s been a difficult process because I already have a number of expectations placed upon me. I have a lot of duties that I have to fulfil,” Princess Frederica, the tenth in line to the throne, told TheWhatIDo.com in an interview about her upcoming nuptial.

“It was difficult to start dating Johnny because I felt the need to please everyone – including Johnny – so it was like a balancing act really. I had to balance my relationship with Johnny as well as my duty to my family and to my country. And it was very difficult.”

Apart from choosing a non-royal, Princess Frederica will also marry in an Anglican church in New Zealand rather than a Free Wesleyan church, which is headed by the royal family.

“I have to take into consideration that I am not marrying someone who everyone expects me to marry. And the truth is Johnny and I wanted a Western ‘Palagi’ type wedding. We didn’t want it to be too traditional because it isn’t like us to be like that.”

In 2012, Princess Frederica defiantly denounced her family’s policy of marrying within its bloodline after Crown Prince Tupouto’a wed his second cousin Princess Sinaitakala Fakafanua. The lavish royal wedding proved to be controversial, with the close genetic ties between the couple, prompting concerns of potential genetic risks to their future children.