This article lists the heads of state of Fiji, from the establishment of the Kingdom of Fiji in 1871 to the present day.
Currently, the head of state of Fiji is the president of the republic, appointed by the Parliament for a three-year term under the terms of the Constitution of 2013. [1]
The current president is Ratu Wiliame Katonivere. He was elected on 22 October 2021, [2] and sworn in on 12 November 2021. [3]
Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seru Epenisa Cakobau | c. 1815 – 1 February 1883 (aged c. 67–68) | 5 June 1871 | 10 October 1874 | Son of Tanoa Visawaqa |
Note that Cakobau had been the Vunivalu (Warlord/Paramount Chief) of Bau since 1852. He had long styled himself the Tui Viti (King of Fiji), but had not been recognised as such by other chiefs, and he exercised no direct authority outside his domain of Bau until he united the country under his leadership in 1871. His ancestors, going back as far as 1770, have often – erroneously – been listed as "kings" of Fiji.
On 10 October 1874, Cakobau signed the Deed of Cession, that granted the British Empire sovereignty over the islands. From 1874 to 1970, the British monarch was Fiji's formal head of state.
Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victoria | 81) | 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 (aged10 October 1874 | 22 January 1901 | Hanover | ||
Edward VII | 68) | 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910 (aged22 January 1901 | 6 May 1910 | Son of Victoria | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |
George V | 70) | 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936 (aged6 May 1910 | 20 January 1936 | Son of Edward VII | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917) Windsor (from 1917) | |
Edward VIII | 77) | 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972 (aged20 January 1936 | 11 December 1936 ( abdicated ) | Son of George V | Windsor | |
George VI | 56) | 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952 (aged11 December 1936 | 6 February 1952 | Son of George V | Windsor | |
Elizabeth II | 96) | 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 (aged6 February 1952 | 10 October 1970 | Daughter of George VI | Windsor |
The British monarch was represented by a governor, who acted on the advice of the British government.
Fiji became an independent Commonwealth realm on 10 October 1970, [4] and Elizabeth II assumed the role of Queen of Fiji.
Name | Lifespan | Reign start | Reign end | Notes | Family | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elizabeth II | 96) | 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 (aged10 October 1970 | 6 October 1987 ( deposed ) | Daughter of George VI | Windsor |
The Queen of Fiji was represented by a governor-general, who acted on the advice of the Fijian government.
No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Monarch (Reign) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||
1 | Sir Robert Sidney Foster (1913–2005) | 10 October 1970 | 13 January 1973 | 2 years, 95 days | Elizabeth II | |
2 | Ratu Sir George Cakobau (1912–1989) | 13 January 1973 | 12 February 1983 | 10 years, 30 days | ||
3 | Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau (1918–1993) | 12 February 1983 | 6 October 1987 | 4 years, 236 days |
Fiji was proclaimed a republic on 7 October 1987, [5] upon the deposition of the Fijian monarchy following two military coups.
Portrait | President | Took office | Left office | Time in office | Party | Election | Prime minister(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Major General Sitiveni Rabuka (born 1948) Acting Head of the Interim Military Government | 7 October 1987 | 5 December 1987 | 59 days | RFMF | — | — | ||
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau (1918–1993) | 5 December 1987 | 15 December 1993 † | 6 years, 10 days | Independent | 1987 | Mara Rabuka | ||
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (1920–2004) | 16 December 1993 Acting until 18 January 1994 | 29 May 2000 | 6 years, 165 days | Independent | 1994 | Rabuka Chaudhry Momoedonu | ||
Commodore Frank Bainimarama (born 1954) Acting Head of the Interim Military Government | 29 May 2000 | 13 July 2000 | 45 days | RFMF | — | Qarase | ||
Ratu Josefa Iloilo (1920–2011) | 13 July 2000 | 5 December 2006 | 6 years, 145 days | Independent | 2000 2006 | Qarase Momoedonu Qarase | ||
Commodore Frank Bainimarama (born 1954) Acting Head of the Interim Military Government | 5 December 2006 | 4 January 2007 | 30 days | RFMF | — | Senilagakali | ||
Ratu Josefa Iloilo (1920–2011) | 4 January 2007 | 30 July 2009 | 2 years, 207 days | Independent | — | Bainimarama | ||
Ratu Brigadier General (Rtd) Epeli Nailatikau (born 1941) | 30 July 2009 Acting until 5 November 2009 | 12 November 2015 | 6 years, 105 days | Independent | 2009 | Bainimarama | ||
Major General (Rtd) Jioji Konrote (born 1947) | 12 November 2015 | 12 November 2021 | 6 years | FijiFirst | 2015 2018 | Bainimarama | ||
Ratu Wiliame Katonivere (born 1964) | 12 November 2021 | Incumbent | 2 years, 280 days | FijiFirst | 2021 | Bainimarama Rabuka |
Brigadier-General RatuEpeli Nailatikau, is a Fijian chief who was President of Fiji from 2009 to 2015. He has had a long career in the Military, diplomatic service, and government. From 2001 to 2006 he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives – the lower and more powerful chamber of the Fijian Parliament. He was also the chairman of the Parliamentary Appropriations Committee and of the House Committee. On 8 January 2007, he was appointed the interim Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade; he was moved to the post of interim Minister for Provincial Development and Multi-Ethnic Affairs in September 2008. In October 2008, he became Indigenous Affairs Minister "and effectively Great Council of Chiefs chairman". On 17 April 2009, he was appointed Vice-President by the military government.
The president of Fiji is the head of state of the Republic of Fiji. The president is appointed by the Parliament for a three-year term under the terms of the 2013 Constitution. Although not entirely a figurehead, the role of president in the government is largely ceremonial, but there are important reserve powers that may be exercised in the event of a crisis. In addition, the president is the commander-in-chief of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.
The prime minister of Fiji is the head of government of the Republic of Fiji. The prime minister is appointed under the terms of the 2013 Constitution. The prime minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses ministers.
The governor-general of Fiji was the representative of the Fijian monarch in the Dominion of Fiji from the country's independence in 1970 until the monarchy's deposition in 1987.
The Great Council of Chiefs is a Fijian constitutional body. It previously existed from 1876 to March 2012 and was re-established in May 2023.
RatuSir Penaia Kanatabatu Ganilau was a Fijian politician who served as the first President of Fiji, serving from 8 December 1987 until his death in 1993. He had previously served as Governor-General of Fiji, representing Elizabeth II, Queen of Fiji, from 12 February 1983 to 15 October 1987.
RatuSir George Kadavulevu Cakobau was a Fijian statesman and athlete. A great-grandson of Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the paramont chief of Bau who had unified all the tribes of Fiji under his reign in the mid-1800s, Ratu Sir George held the traditional titles of Vunivalu of Bau and Tui Levuka and thus was considered by many as Fiji's highest-ranking traditional chief. Ratu Cakobau was appointed Governor-General of Fiji in 1973, becoming the first indigenous Fijian to serve as the viceregal representative of Elizabeth II, Queen of Fiji.
The Fijian coups d'état of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, the deposition of Elizabeth II as Queen of Fiji, and in the declaration of a republic. The first coup d'état, in which Bavadra was deposed, took place on 14 May 1987; a second coup d'état on 25 September ended the monarchy, and was shortly followed by the proclamation of a republic on 10 October. Both military actions were led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka, then third in command of the Royal Fiji Military Forces.
RatuSeru Epenisa Cakobau was a Fijian chief, monarch, and warlord (Vunivalu) who united part of Fiji's warring tribes under his leadership, establishing a united Fijian kingdom. He was born on Natauloa, Nairai Island in Lomaiviti but spent his youth on Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti, later returning to Bau to re-establish his Father's Ratu Tanoa Visawaqa reign. Ratu Epenisa Seru Visawaqa was given the name "Cakobau" meaning destroyer of Bau, in reference to his grandfathers' (Nailatikau) effort to first claim the tile from the people of Butoni and Lovoni, returned with most of his warriors from Vanuaso, Gau, Lomaiviti to coup the leadership in Bau then and later takeover his father's title; known after his father as the 6th "Vunivalu" or Warlord of Bau.
Ratu is an Austronesian title used by male Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, adi, is used by females of chiefly rank. In the Malay language, the title ratu is also the traditional honorific title to refer to the ruling king or queen in Javanese culture. Thus in Java, a royal palace is called "keraton", constructed from the circumfix ke- -an and Ratu, to describe the residence of the ratu.
In 1871, Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the Vunivalu of Bau, succeeded in unifying the previously warring tribes throughout the Fiji Islands by establishing the Kingdom of Viti, with the support of foreigners. Cakobau proceeded to set up a constitutional monarchy, in which both the legislature and the executive were dominated by foreigners.
Kubuna is one of the three confederacies that make up Fiji's House of Chiefs, to which all of Fiji's chiefs belong.
RatuEpenisa Seru Cakobau is a Fijian chief and politician. Cakobau is a senior member of the Tui Kaba clan. He is the 13th Vunivalu of Bau.
Bau is a small island in Fiji, off the east coast of the main island of Viti Levu. Bau rose to prominence in the mid-1800s and became Fiji's dominant power; until its cession to Britain, it has maintained its influence in politics and leadership right through to modern Fiji. Due to its sacred nature, foreigners have to apply for a permit to visit.
Fiji was an independent state from 1970 to 1987, a Commonwealth realm in which the British monarch, Elizabeth II, remained head of state as Queen of Fiji, represented by the Governor-General. The state was the successor of the British Colony of Fiji which was given independence in October 1970 and it survived until the Republic of Fiji was proclaimed on 6 October 1987 after two military coups, at which time Queen Elizabeth II was removed as head of state, albeit, without any consent from the people of Fiji themselves.
The monarchy of Fiji arose in the 19th century, when native ruler Seru Epenisa Cakobau consolidated control of the Fijian Islands in 1871 and declared himself king, or paramount chief, of Fiji. Three years later, he voluntarily ceded sovereignty of the islands to Britain, making Fiji a crown colony within the British Empire.
The Lasakau Sea Warriors were a 19th-century warrior sub-culture in the pre-colonial state of Bau, in Fiji. The sea warriors were instrumental in spreading Bau's political power throughout the South Pacific archipelagic islands. The rise of the eminent islet of Bau amongst other embryonic states was due mainly to the projection of sea power through its naval forces. Bauan chief Ratu Loaloadravu Tubuanakoro was praised by French Captain Dumont D'Urville in May 1827 for his geographic knowledge of the Fijian archipelago signifying Bau's naval influence. More far-ranging than Bau's land warriors led by the Vusaradave clan, the Lasakau clan became the leading proponents of war and tribute for the emerging island kingdom. They became known as the Bai kei Bau or 'War fence of Bau'. Sahlins made the crucial observation that," The kings of Bau based their rule not on native cultivators but on native sailors and fishers-which is to say in Fijian categories, as in political strategies, not on the land but on the sea". This was the great political transformation that catapulted Bau to power over other pre-colonial kingdoms.
The Kingdom of Fiji, also known as the Kingdom of Viti, was a short-lived monarchy in Fiji. It existed from 1871 to 1874, with Ratu Seru Epenisa Cakobau as King.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermic activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji was settled first by the Lapita culture, around 1,500–1,000 years BC, followed by a large influx of people with predominantly Melanesian genetics about the time of the beginning of the Common Era. Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century, and, after a brief period as an independent kingdom, the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as the Dominion of Fiji. A republic was declared in 1987, following a series of coups d'état.
RatuWiliame Maivalili Katonivere, CF is a Fijian chief and politician serving as the President of Fiji since 2021. He has been chief of Macuata Province since 2013, succeeding his older brother Aisea Katonivere; he was previously involved in conservation initiatives of Fiji's Great Sea Reef.