Order of Queen Sālote Tupou III Order of Queen Sālote Tupou III The "Most Illustrious" Order of Queen Salote Tupou III is a knighthood order of the Kingdom of Tonga. The Order was established on 28 June 2008 by His Late Majesty King George Tupou V to commemorate the grand figure of his grandmother, Queen Sālote Tupou III, who, during the nearly fifty years of her government (5 April 1918 – 16 December 1965), had guided the state of Tonga to a substantial economical and social evolution. The Order has been created as the principal civil reward for meritorious personal services to the sovereign. Above all,
George Tupou II of 18, upon the death of his great-grandfather George Tupou I, at which time he was still a bachelor. In 1896, the chiefs of the country urged him to marry and produce an heir. After her death, the chiefs suggested a new wife, ʻOfa-ki-Vavaʻu, the daughter of Māʻatu from Niuatoputapu, who was related to the Tuʻi Haʻatakalaua line. George, however, refused. Instead, on 1 June 1899, he took Lavinia Veiongo (1879–1902) as wife. She was the daughter of Kupuavanua from Vavaʻu and Tōkanga from Niuafoʻou, thus obliging these islands to the throne. Kupuavanua was also, through his mother Lavinia Veiongo