Tonga's King returns for medical checks

Tonga's King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV is back in New Zealand for medical appointments, less than a month after returning home from a three-month stay in the country.

King Tupou, 87, returned to Auckland on April 13 to undergo further medical check-ups, a palace spokesman in Nuku'alofa said.

The King, who unexpectedly came back to New Zealand for medical reasons just before Christmas, returned to Tonga on March 18.

But he cut short his first public appearance of the year on March 23 when he appeared to be infirm at the opening of the Vaiola Hospital's new wing.

A spokesman for the palace, Suka'Otukolo, said yesterday that the King was expected to return to Tonga in the second week of May.

Princess Salote Pilolevu Tuita - the King's daughter - was running the country as Princess Regent from April 13 until the Easter weekend, when Crown Prince Tupouto'a returned to Tonga from overseas, the Matangi Tonga newspaper reported.

In June the King visited Auckland for a medical check at Mercy Hospital, where he was admitted for several nights, before returning to Tonga.

By August he was back in New Zealand for a month, and he returned to Auckland for treatment in November, only to rush back to Auckland for medical reasons just before Christmas.

- NZPA