![Britain's Prince Charles (R) drinks kava with Chief Seni Mao Tirsupe, the President of the Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs in Port Vila](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/02/TELEMMGLPICT000334150978_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Tribe that worships Prince Philip to hold ‘big’ Coronation party
South Pacific villagers and chieftains will celebrate friendship with Britain and Royal family by drinking and dancing into the night
![Britain's Prince Charles (R) drinks kava with Chief Seni Mao Tirsupe, the President of the Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs in Port Vila](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/02/TELEMMGLPICT000334150978_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The remote South Pacific tribe that worships the late Duke of Edinburgh is preparing to hold a party for the King's Coronation.
Villagers on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, will raise the Union flag, dance and drink kava, an intoxicating drink made from pulverised roots, according to a local leader.
As the King is crowned in Westminster Abbey on Saturday, people will gather 10,000 miles away in the villages of Yakel and Yaohnanen.
The party is likely to feature the three framed portraits of Prince Philip given to the tribe by Buckingham Palace in recognition of their devotion to the late Duke of Edinburgh.
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“It’s going to be a big celebration – we’re talking about 5,000 to 6,000 people gathering together to celebrate the crowning of this king,” Chief Johnson Iakapass told ABC Radio’s Pacific Beat programme.
“We have about 100 chiefs arriving. The ceremony will begin in the morning at 8am and the flag-raising will be at about 10.30am.
“There are a lot of activities. At night, after the kava drinking, there will be women and men dancing together, so it’s going to be big.
“It’s another thing that will bring back the history of England and Tanna and keep remembering the friendship on this island.”
He described the King as “really meaningful to the people of Tanna. You will see a lot of people believing and celebrating the crowning of the prince".
Villagers, who still wear grass skirts and woven grass penis sheaths, will exchange gifts of food and kava.
“People are so excited and looking forward to the day, everyone in Tanna is so excited,” the chief said.
![tribesmen holding portraits of Britain's Prince Philip in the town of Yaohnanen](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/02/TELEMMGLPICT000334169274_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The links between Britain and Vanuatu go back to when the archipelago of more than 80 islands was a colony known as the New Hebrides, jointly administered by the British and the French.
The arrangement was known as a “Condominium”, but such was the confusion caused by parallel systems of law, education and government in English and French that it was nicknamed the “Pandemonium”.
The colony gained independence in 1980 and was renamed Vanuatu. Unlike countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Papua New Guinea, it is not a Commonwealth realm and King Charles is not head of state.
But ties remain deep. The late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in 2021 at the age of 99, was known to the islanders in pidgin English as “number one big fella him bilong Misis [Queen Elizabeth II]”.
The cult, known to anthropologists as the Prince Philip Movement, originated decades ago and has long considered him a deity.
There was an ancient prophecy on Tanna that said a pale-skinned warrior spirit from the island would venture far away in search of a powerful woman to marry.
When the late Duke visited the New Hebrides with the late Queen in 1974, he came to be identified as the returning spirit.
He gave a white pig to a member of the tribe during his visit to the capital, Port Vila, and a strong bond was established.
The villagers still believe that he was originally from Tanna.
He was well aware of the cult – starting in the 1970s, he sent the islanders signed photographs of himself and in return received a traditional pig-slaughtering club called a nal-nal.
Island struck by ‘the evil twins’
It is not clear whether the deification of the late Duke will be transferred to the King so that he too is seen as a living god.
Tanna, which boasts an active volcano called Mount Yasur, was badly hit by two tropical cyclones, dubbed “the evil twins”, in March.
HMS Spey, a Royal Navy patrol vessel currently deployed in the region, delivered water tanks with a capacity of 10,000 litres and other humanitarian aid during a mission to Vanuatu last week.
The crew visited Tanna, where they received a traditional ceremonial welcome with dancing and singing.