The statement confronts theissue of his taxi with its cream upholstery and velve

Tag : velvet product

4-day coronation costs £1.6m, a third of Tonga's aid budget
He's invited Elle, Mick Jagger, Elton and Sean Connery
Car is a London taxi with white leather seats
It is a very small kingdom - but while Tonga is tiny, its monarchis larger than life...
When he is finally crowned King of Tonga this week - almost twoyears after the death of his dad - the multi-millionaire playboybachelor George Tupou V intends to make sure the wait was worth it.
Sir Elton John, Sir Mick Jagger, Elle Macpherson and Sir SeanConnery are all among the A-listers invited to the £1.6millionCoronation celebrations, including four days of officialceremonies, a military parade, an open-air concert, lavish fireworkdisplays and a rugby match between Tonga and the rest of the world.
The future George V has long been known for his extravagances andeccentricities - from his white pith helmet, monocle and wardrobefull of Savile Row suits to the beloved 15-year-old bespoke Londontaxi in which he is ferried around the 748 sq km of his SouthPacific island kingdom.
"One is what one is," the Oxford and Sandhurst-educated king saidin his plummy English accent, recently declining an interview.
"One doesn't see much point in talking about it."
At a cost of one-third of this former British protectorate's annualaid budget, the Coronation of 'G5' - as he is known to friends -will be as lavish as his lifestyle.
Three balls costing hundreds of thousands of pounds will segregateguests into Very Very Important Persons (VVIPs), Very ImportantPersons (VIPs) - and Commoners.
All must observe the strict "tapu" - protocols - that surround theking, maintaining a "respectful distance from his person", speaking"with lowered voices" and compelled to "stoop deferentially" ifapproached by his Highness.
Their host, meanwhile, will wear ermine-trimmed robes tailored onSavile Row at £230,000.
A £20,000 gold sceptre similar to the Queen's and long admiredby George Tupou V's family, has been specially cast for theoccasion.
The coronation of George V, the very last Polynesian monarch, is soexpensive that it has been delayed for almost two years by itsextravagances.
The 169 islands of the South Pacific archipelago - 36 are inhabited- are among the most beautiful in the world, but a quarter of theirpeople live in poverty.
With fishing and subsistence farming the only industries, theeconomy largely depends on tourism and money sent home by Tonganswho have emigrated abroad, and there have been fears of protestleading to bloodshed.
When George's father died, rioting and looting caused £34mworth of damage as pro-democracy campaigners seized the moment toprotest against Tonga's feudal structure. Six people died.
The late King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV had been famous for two things -a listing in the Guinness Book of Records as "the world's heaviestmonarch" at 31 stone, and a scandal involving a US conman he'dappointed as Official Court Jester.
When ill-fated schemes such as building a fish-sausage factory toburning old tyres to create electricity floundered, Taufa'ahauTupou IV approved a scheme to sell Tongan passports to foreigners.
It raised more than £30 million for the national purse. Butthe money was immediately lost by the King's chief adviser - anAmerican magnet salesman who had persuaded Taufa'ahau he could makehim a billionaire.
He couldn't... And despite his own eccentric interests - includingcollecting toy soldiers and dressing up in military outfits - CrownPrince George showed far more business savvy.
Having acquired controlling stakes in most of the nation's keyassets - from Tonga's national airline to a brewery and anelectricity company - the future king has built a multi-millionpound empire. Run from his sprawling, heavily-guarded Italianatehillside villa, he also enjoys an extravagant - and eccentric -lifestyle.
A terrace overlooks an Olympicsized swimming pool where the Kingsails a fleet of motorised boats, and the grounds where he playswar games with his toy soldiers.
A notorious playboy, George V is rumoured to have two love childrenin the States he can never acknowledge and who can never ascend tothe throne.
But in reality little is known about his private life except thathe is unmarried. Film-making is among his hobbies, and during themaking of a documentary on Mongolian tribes the King couldn'tresist parading around in riding breeches, aviator goggles and aRussian fur hat.
In the past George V, who once described his Tongan subjects as"squatters who would urinate in elevators if there was nothing tostop them", has shown only contempt for his own people.
But the riots have forced a new PR offensive. Now, his advisershave been playing up the advantages of a king who left Tonga HighSchool for private education in New Zealand and Switzerland, theRoyal Military Academy at Sandhurst and Oxford University.
A recent official statement points out that: "King George absorbsknowledge ceaselessly and reads constantly and indiscriminatelyboth for pleasure and study.
"He reads music, plays the piano and double bass, can converse inFrench and German, has a smattering of Chinese and Japanese and isstill able to write in the Latin he learned at school."
His villa, it notes, is "smaller and probably less imposing than,say, the splendid and spacious mansion in Fiji, that is home tothat country's pres ident". Finally, the statement confronts theissue of his taxi with its cream upholstery and velvet drapes.
"His preference for the product is not surprising for one who is anadmirer of Britain and its way of life."
Yesterday, three days ahead of the celebrations, the King announcedhe was giving up much of the near-absolute power his family hasheld for generations - in favour of a mainly elected parliament."The Sovereign is surrendering his powers to meet the democraticaspirations of his people," Fielakepa, the Lord Chamberlain, said.
Meanwhile the government announced George V had sold off his stakesin Tongan government companies that had enriched the royal familyfor years.
The PR offensive seems to be working. Leading pro-Democracycampaigner, Akilisi Pohiva, said yesterday that the announcementmade 30 years of political activism worthwhile.
Now George V will hope the stage is set for a peaceful four-daycoronation party in the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa - twinned,presincidentally, with Whitby in North Yorkshire.
With more than 5,000 guests flying in - including the Duke andDuchess of Gloucester and royalty from around the world - allaccommodation has long been taken.
Instead, hundreds of guests (it is not known if Elton and co willactually turn up) will stay on luxury yachts moored in theturquoise waters of the harbour.
And, on Friday, after two long years' wait, Very Very VeryImportant His Highness George Tupou V will arrive in his blackbespoke taxi to ascend the throne of Tonga.
BRITS FELL FOR GRAN AS QUEEN CROWNED
George Tupou V's grandmother Queen Salote Tupou III - who ruledTonga from 1918 until her death in 1965 - won the hearts of theBritish people when she rode in an open carriage at the coronationof Queen Elizabeth II.
Waving and smiling despite the pouring rain, she refused to closethe top of her carriage as a mark of respect for the young Queen.
Queen Salote, who was six foot three and weighed more than 25stone, was accompanied by a tiny man dressed in a frock coat andspats.
When a friend of writer Noel Coward asked: "Who's that little manin the carriage with her?" Coward is said to have replied: "Herlunch".
TONGA FACTS AND FIGURES
100,000
Population of Tonga. They speak Tongan and English and the mainindustries are agriculture and fishing
£2,049
Average salary per year. The local currency is called the Pa'anga
98%
Literacy rate
23c
The average annual temperature
36%
Unemployment rate
£1.30
Price of a bottle of beer
Rugby is the national sport. They have their own version of haka
67.9 years
Average male life expectancy. For women it is 72.1 years
National dish: Topai - doughy dumplings served with a syrup ofsugar and coconut milk.
£3,400
Average price of a secondhand family car
Top TV: Planet Tonga
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