The new king of Tonga has been sworn in today, 24 hours after the death of 88-year-old King Taufa-ahau Tupou IV in a New Zealand hospital after a long but unspecified illness.

Crown Prince Tupouto’a, 57, the late king's eldest son who will take over his father's duties, took his vows in front of the nation’s chief justice in the capital, Nuku’alofa, said Lord Chamberlain Hon. Fielakepa. He has taken the name King Taufa’ahau Tupou V.

The new king succeeds to absolute power over his nation of 108,000 subjects, a situation unchanged since tribal groups on more than 170 Polynesian coral islands to the north of New Zealand united into a single kingdom in 1845. Under the 150-year-old Tongan Constitution, the king appoints the government and all but nine of the nation’s 32 MPs.

It is likely that there will now be calls for democratic reforms, previously muted out of respect for King Tupou IV's peaceful and stable 41 year reign, though there was concern that the old king grew more dictatorial with age. Last year thousands attended a pro-democracy rally.

The royal family controls most state assets, and historic respect for the monarchy has waned as Tongans watched the royal family enrich itself to the tune of tens of millions of dollars by running monopolies and exploiting the islands' resources, while a quarter of ordinary subjects continued to languish in poverty.

Tupou IV became Tonga’s monarch after his mother, Queen Salote, died in 1965. A keen athlete and pole vaulter at the age of 14, in adult life like many of his fellow countrymen Tupou IV grew obese on the Tongan delicacies of coconut meat and mutton flaps, earning a place in the Guiness Book of Records as the world's fattest monarch. In the 1990s he led a national diet, managing to slim down from a substantial 33 stone to 20 stone 6lb (209kg to 130kg).

He was criticised when he and his children took control of the privatised power and telecommunications companies, satellite communications systems and the ".to" Internet domain. The king authorised taxpayers' money to be used to start Royal Tongan Airlines, which failed, then gave the only license for a replacement airline to a prince, creating a lucrative monopoly. He was also implicated in Tonga giving a self-styled court jester and con man more than US$60 million to invest, only to lose it all.

His successor is noted for his fondness for wearing a monocle and military uniform, and driving around in a London taxi.

Today buildings in Nukua’alofa were being draped in black and purple, traditional colours of mourning.The late king’s body will be returned to Tonga on Wednesday, where it will lie in state until the funeral on September 19, during a month of official mourning. His successor's coronation will be next year.

The editor of the Matangi Tonga magazine, Sione Fonua, said the king would be remembered for helping to modernise the country, while preserving its culture.

"His Majesty’s vision was the right prescription at the right time for a country still yet merged in feudal and common thinking," Fonua wrote in an editorial on the magazine’s Web site.

Tonga’s economy depends on subsistence farming, tourism and fishing.

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