Life
He was born on 21 December 1908 as the son of King George Tupou II of Tonga and his Fijian "trial wife", Adi Litia Cakobau, who was a granddaughter of Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the King who forged the first unified Fijian state in 1871, before ceding the islands to the United Kingdom in 1874. Cakobau was a half-brother of Tonga's Queen Salote Tupou III.
He was educated at New Zealand's Wanganui Technical College, a public secondary school in Wanganui. School records show he attended from 1923 to 1928. After working as a schoolteacher, Cakobau commanded the Fiji Infantry Regiment in World War II, and was awarded the Military Cross. When Fiji became independent in 1970, Cakobau was knighted, becoming a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), Ratu Edward Cakobau was also a Freemason.
Ratu Edward played a major role in Fijian politics in the years that preceded and followed independence in 1970. As Minister for Labour in the first post-independence government, Cakobau had to contend with a docker's strike for a 31 percent pay rise, at the port of Suva in May 1971.
He was a Fijian cricketer who played a single first-class match for Auckland in the 1930/31 Plunket Shield and later made two first-class appearances for Fiji in 1948 against Otago and Auckland.
Read more about this topic: Edward Cakobau
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