King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, 88, has died in a New Zealand hospital after an unspecified illness, ending a 41-year reign.
At 14 Tupou IV was a top athlete who pole-vaulted 10ft (3m), played tennis, cricket and rugby, and rowed competitively. But he became obese on the national diet of coconut flesh and mutton flaps, ballooning to 462lb (210kg) and getting into The Guinness Book of Records. In the 1990s the King led his 108,000 subjects on a diet and himself shed about 154lb.