Wedding of Crown Prince Tupoutoʻa ʻUlukalala and Sinaitakala Fakafanua following the death of King George Tupou V and the ascension of Tupou VI to the throne. The wedding ceremony marked the end of Tonga's one-hundred-day mourning period marking the death of George Tupou V, who died in March. The Crown Prince is the son of Tupou VI and the nephew of the late King George Tupou V. All royal marriages in Tonga are arranged. Under Tongan royal protocol and tradition, members of the royal family may only marry members of Tongan nobility to maintain the royal bloodline. The bride, Sinaitakala Fakafanua, is also a member of the royal family
Tongan paʻanga same approximate size as earlier dated coins. In 2011, commercial demand for 20 and 50 seniti prompted these denominations to be issued featuring the effigy of Tupou IV posthumous, who had died in 2006. A new obverse design for George Tupou V had not yet been made or selected at this time, possibly due to increased health concerns regarding the latter monarch, who died in March 2012. For a brief period, some of the higher denomination coinage from the 1967-1968 series was "countermarked" with commemoration stamps that were added to the coin after being struck. The most distinct of these