INTERVIEW: AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Centre / Pacific Media Watch): The death of King George Tupou V was unexpected for all, especially for family and close friends.
Neil Underhill is an Honorary Correspondent for the British government to King George V. He is also a close personal friend.
Born in Fiji, he has lived most of his life there and frequently travels to Tonga to see the King. He strongly disagrees with those who describe "HM" as eccentric and instead remembers him as a man of “impeccable dignity”.
Alex Perrottet speaks to Neil Underhill, Honorary Correspondent for the British Government for Tonga and close personal friend of the late King:
PERROTTET: Neil, thanks for joining me. Firstly, how would you describe your relationship to the late King George Tupou V and how did that begin?
UNDERHILL: I guess it began - I first met him around 1965 and I have known him very closely since 1990. HM was one of my closest personal friends, and I guess treated me as a confidant, someone he could discuss matters of great importance with knowing I’d treat them as highly confidential. His death has come very unexpectedly and a very great shock to me and indeed to hundreds of his friends that I have been in touch with.
PERROTTET: And you’ve spent a lot of time with him and have a lot of praise for the man. What are the main qualities that you would describe him with?
UNDERHILL: He was the epitomy of a gentleman, Alex. I mean, how would I describe him? He was just the most fantastic man that I have had the pleasure of knowing. He has impeccable dignity, he was the shining example of a gentleman. He was considerate, he was honest, he was diligent, he was caring, he was polite, he made people feel at ease. But above all he was just a thoroughly nice person to be in company with.
PERROTTET: Some in the media have spoken about him being someone who is eccentric and having lavish attire. You obviously know him at close quarters and you disagree with that don’t you?
UNDERHILL: I totally disagree with some of the people who say he is eccentric. For instance I have read where he is quoted as sailing model boats in his swimming pool, well he has never done that. I’ve read where he liked to play with toy soldiers, well he never played with them but he was a great collector of toy soldiers. You know I disagree with that strongly.
PERROTTET: You also say he had a good knowledge, or a great knowledge in history. Do you think that broadened his outlook in life and helped him to step back from the monarchy’s hold over parliamentary power in Tonga and reform the political system there?
UNDERHILL: Possibly. He had a fantastic knowledge of history and we would spend hours sitting in the kitchen of his villa just him doing the talking and me doing the listening and I think yes it may have helped his political reform process but he was very very committed to that before he became King.
PERROTTET: And yourself, you’re the Honorary Correspondent with the British High Commission in Fiji, with Tonga, what sort of tasks did that involve?
UNDERHILL: It was kind of like a go-between, kind of like asking things before official requests were made, just feeling the play, so to speak. As of for instance, there is a Tongan contingent assisting the British Army in their duties in Afghanistan. In discussions with the High Commissioner, in Fiji, for the UK, he felt there may be some benefit if there was a Tongan contingent, but we both knew that if HM didn’t support the idea then there was no point in going through the official channels to put that in place. That was an example where I was able to, just on a personal level, check what HM thought of that idea and was it something he would support. And I am pleased to say he has, and I am pleased to say that the Tongan contingent is highly regarded by the British Army in Afghanistan.
PERROTTET: When his father passed away you were the first one he called. Were there any tasks in particular with regard to that he gave you?
UNDERHILL: When the late King Tāufa’āhau Tupou IV passed away, HM rang me, I recall, between 12.30 and 1am to advise me that his father had passed away and he asked me to, well not asked, it was an instruction when I look back on it. And his instruction was, “You are to get up, you are get dressed, appropriately,” (which for us who know that means in black) “and you are to drive and inform the Fijian nobility, and lo and behold, if I hear that you have attended to this instruction by telephone.” That was the serious side, the extreme serious side of him coming out but combined with the more humourous side.
PERROTTET: Which ended up I suppose in a long night of driving around Suva for you?
UNDERHILL: Well, fortunately it wasn’t, because what he didn’t say in his instruction was that I wasn’t allowed to delegate, so I had advised who is our current President, who by the way is a close blood relative. So as soon as I had informed him, he was able to continue the task. But I never ever divulged that to HM.
PERROTTET: One of the things that you did divulge to him was that you were interested, in coming up to his coronation, in forming a charity trust into which his cash donations could be put towards, for the people of Tonga. Could you elaborate a bit on that?
UNDERHILL: Yes, apart from the government side of planning the coronation, under Prime Minister Sevele, and they had a huge task as you can imagine, there was an inner circle, an inner committee that HM formed and met formally and relatively frequently. And round about May 2008 I suggested that he might like to consider any cash gifts that he got as part of the coronation into a trust that we could form and the purpose of that trust would be for the betterment of health and education. And I am pleased to say he supported the idea very quickly. He did place his cash gifts into that and I am also pleased to say that that trust is functioning. And I was due to meet HM in Sydney on 2nd of April and in that meeting I was to request his permission for the first project for the trust which is to undertake a national census with respect to diabetes in the Kingdom. And that in itself is a task for me to approach King Tupou VI and I will do that after the end of the official period of mourning.
PERROTTET: And you have a good rapport with the successor, King Tupou VI?
UNDERHILL: Yes, he has all the traits that his elder brother did. A thorough fine gentleman, just fantastic company to be with.
PERROTTET: And you think he will be intent on continuing the democratic reforms that his older brother put in place?
UNDERHILL: I think so Alex, I think there won’t be any back changes to that. I just think the process has started and I think it will continue and I think His Majesty will support that.
PERROTTET: Well, just to finish off, you are reflecting on a very very long friendship with a very important man, and I suppose people would love to hear about instances where the public eye doesn’t reach. You went on a long trip to Mongolia with His Majesty, could you tell us a couple of anecdotes from that particular occasion?
UNDERHILL: Yes we had a fantastic trip, it started off in Ulan Bator. We were there for the Nadaam Festival, which was quite fascinating to watch and after two or three days we went on a tented tour of almost three weeks to inner Mongolia and I recall at evening, when I had retired, I was getting into my tent. It was summer, but the temperature had dropped from about 45 degrees at 5pm to about five degrees at 10pm and in fact I was a bit unprepared for that, so I was wanting to get into the sleeping back quite quickly and HM had arranged for a fine gentleman called Harry Walkins from Auckland to fill my sleeping bag with camel dung.
PERROTTET: And the King took great delight in your reaction to that I am sure.
UNDERHILL: Oh absolutely, as soon as my flashlight went on, that was his signal to know that I had found what was in the bag but of course didn’t know it by then. He was like that. I have had the pleasure of being overseas with him on several trips and they have always been absolutely fascinating.
PERROTTET: Look. thanks so much for your time, and further words about his lasting legacy?
UNDERHILL: It’s just tragic that he has passed on at such a young age. He had the common touch, he made people feel very much at ease, and above all, Alex, it was his kindness, I mean just his greatness I guess he will be remembered by.
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Alex Perrottet
