Order of Queen Sālote Tupou III dark-blue with the legend in gold capital letters, all suspended from a gold Tongan crown. The "necklet ribbon" is sky-blue-ultramarine and approx. 41mm . The "breast badge" is, as the Commander’s class, in silver and enamel (above, except smaller and the suspended crown is silver). The "breast ribbon" is approximately 38 mm (as above). 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
Tupou VI included peacekeeping operations in Bougainville. He graduated with a masters in Defence Studies from the University of New South Wales in 1997 and with an MA in International Relations from Bond University in 1999. In 1998 he ended his military career to become part of the government, first as the defence minister and the foreign minister at the same time, from October 1998 until August 2004. He took over these posts from his elder brother Tupoutoʻa, at that time still the crown prince, later to become King Siaosi Tupou V (see below). Soon he was appointed as Prime Minister on