Kiingi Tuheitia's successor and now Maori Queen Nga Wai hono i te po Paki (C) looks on as Maori warriors paddle waka canoes down towards Taupiri Maunga during the funeral ceremony of New Zealand's Maori King Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII in Ngaruawahia on September 5, 2024. A council of New Zealand's indigenous Maori chiefs anointed a new queen on September 5, as a flotilla of war canoes readied to transport her father, the late monarch, for burial on a sacred mountain. Nga Wai hono i te po Paki -- a surprise choice to be the next Maori leader -- was cheered as she sat atop a high-backed wooden throne. (Photo by DJ MILLS / AFP)