Nuku'alofa, Aug 30 (AP) New Zealand's Maori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, died Friday at age 69, days after the celebration of his 18th year on the throne.

Tuheitia died in hospital after heart surgery said Rahui Papa, a spokesperson for the Kiingitanga, the Maori King Movement, in a post on Instagram.

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Tuheitia was the seventh Kiingitanga monarch. The position was created in 1858 to unite all New Zealand's Indigenous Maori tribes under the leadership of Pootatau Te Wherowhero.

Kiingitanga's primary goals were to end the sale of land to non-Indigenous people, stop inter-tribal warfare, and provide a springboard for the preservation of Maori culture in the face of British colonization, the Waikato-Tainui tribe website said.

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The monarch has a largely ceremonial but consequential role in New Zealand, where Maori are a minority. (AP)

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