Teriitaria II

Teriitaria II
Queen regnant of Huahine and Mai’ao Queen and Regent of Tahiti
Portrait by Jules-Louis Lejeune, c. 1826
Queen regnant of Huahine and Mai’ao
Reign	1815–1852
Predecessor	Mahine Tehei'ura
Successor	Ari'imate
Born	c. 1790
Died	1858 (aged 67–68) Papeete, Tahiti
Spouse	Pōmare II
House	House of Tamatoa
Father	Tamatoa III
Mother	Tura’iari’i Ehevahine
Religion	Tahitian later Protestant

Teriitaria II or Teri'itari'a II, later known as Pōmare Vahine and Ari'ipaea Vahine, baptized Taaroamaiturai (c. 1790 – 1858), became Queen consort of Tahiti when she married King Pōmare II and later, she ruled as Queen of Huahine and Maiao in the Society Islands.

Teriitaria was the eldest child of King Tamatoa III of Raiatea and Tura’iari’i Ehevahine, a member of the royal family of Huahine. In 1809, Tamatoa arranged for the marriage of Teriitaria and her sister, Teriʻitoʻoterai Teremoemoe, to their widowed second cousin, Pōmare II of Tahiti. Teriitaria became Queen of Huahine in 1815, but did not govern it during the first decades of her rule. In 1815, she fought in the Battle of Te Feipī, which consolidated her husband's rule. Teriitaria had no children with Pōmare II, but Pōmare fathered the next two Tahitian monarchs, Pōmare III (r. 1821–1827) and Pōmare IV (r. 1827–1877), by Teremoemoe. Pōmare II died in 1821, and Teriitaria and Teremoemoe served as regents for Pōmare III and (after his death in 1827) Pōmare IV.

Teriitaria was removed from the regency in 1828, but continued to have an influential role in Tahiti. She led the Tahitian forces in the suppression of the Taiarapu rebellion of 1832. She accompanied her niece, Pōmare IV, into exile on Raiatea during the Franco-Tahitian War (1844–1847). Teriitaria repelled a French invasion force at the Battle of Maeva in 1846, which secured the independence of the Leeward Islands. She was deposed on 26 December 1851 by the governors, the nobility and the people of Huahine and replaced with Ari'imate Teurura'i. She was then banished from the island on 18 March 1854 for troubling the new government. She died in 1858 at Papeete, Tahiti.