George Tupou V of Tonga for the purposes of assuring that political independence and neutrality were retained. On 24 February 2012, he visited pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City. During his reign, George Tupou V oversaw reforms within the Tongan honours system which both expanded the number of Orders in the Kingdom and created rules to make the award of these Orders more egalitarian. In September 2011, Tupou V had surgery to remove a kidney following the discovery of a tumour. On 15 September 2011 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary from Pál Schmitt,
Sonatane Tuʻa Taumoepeau-Tupou February 2010. He presented his credentials as High Commissioner to Canada on 19 May 2010. On 28 March 2011, he was created a Tongan life peer by King George Tupou V with the noble title of Lord Taumoepeau-Tupou of Toula and Kotu. In April 2010, a 3-year Royal Land Commission investigation headed by Lord Fielakepa as chairman investigated corrupt land dealing, and implicated that Taumoepeau-Tupou had acted unethically in his role as Acting Governor of Vava'u. The final land commission report stated "that the Acting Governor Tu'a Taumoepeau has a lot of explaining to give" and recommended that Government investigate