Students at Marcellin College remembered Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata’aho today with a prayer service at school.
The students came to school wearing their formal clothes and tauangaʻa.
“I was approached on Friday lunchtime by a year 13 student asking if they could wear their formal clothes and tauangaʻa on Monday,” college principal Jan Waelen told Kaniva News.
“We readily agreed, sent a note around the classes and today I think every Tongan student dressed for the occasion.”
“We celebrated a beautiful prayer liturgy to remember the queen mother.”
Photographs supplied to Kaniva News show the college’s staff and students during the service.
The body of the Queen Mother, who died in Auckland, will be flown back to Tonga tomorrow (Tuesday) in an RNZAF Hercules.
She will then lie in state at the Royal Palace in Nuku’alofa.
On Wednesday her body will be taken to the Royal Tombs Mala’ekkula.
The royal family will observe ten nights of mourning following the burial.
Marcellin College is a Catholic, integrated, co-educational college in Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand for students in Year 7 to Year 13.
The main points
- Students at Marcellin College remembered Queen Mother Halaevalu Mata’aho today with a prayer service at school.
- The students came to school wearing their formal clothes and valas.
- “We celebrated a beautiful prayer liturgy with our students to remember the Queen Mother,” college principal Jan Waelen said.
- The body of the Queen Mother, who died in Auckland, will be flown back to Tonga tomorrow (Tuesday).
