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
George Tupou V the 19th century. The ceremony involved having "kava", hundreds of baskets of food, and seventy cooked pigs presented to the King and the assembly of chiefs and nobles, Later that night, schoolchildren held 30,000 torches to proclaim the coronation in what is known as a "tupakapakanava". The traditional torch spectacle was held that time at a spot overlooking the Pacific and is an ancient honour reserved solely for the Tongan sovereign and Royal Family. A second, European-style coronation ceremony took place on 1 August 2008 in the Centennial Chapel, Nuku’alofa. Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia Jabez Bryce invested George Tupou V