Born on 4 July, 1918, T ufa' hau Tupou was the son of Queen Salote Tupou III [The numbers simply follow the order of the Tupou monarchs, so that the first of their line was Tupou I, while the fifth is Tupou V. ] , who had succeeded the throne of the Kingdom of Tonga from her father King George Tupou II earlier that year. The fourth ruler in a monarchy covering the entire country, King Tupou IV's mother died in 1965 and he was crowned in 1967 after a protracted period of mourning. He reigned for over forty years before passing away at the age of 88 on 10 September, 2006, leaving the throne to his eldest son, King George Tupou V. During his life he had absolute power over 170 islands, and he received several awards as well as an entry in the Guinness Book of Records. At his most obese , King Tupou IV weighed over 200 kilograms, making him officially the heaviest monarch in the world.