The influence of the Māori monarch is widespread in Māoridom despite the movement not being adhered to by several major iwi, notably Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, and the largest of all, Ngāpuhi.

The movement arose among a group of central North Island iwi in the 1850s as a means of attaining Māori unity to halt the alienation of land at a time of rapid population growth by European colonists.

[3] The movement sought to establish a monarch who could claim status similar to that of Queen Victoria and thus provide a way for Māori to deal with Pākehā (Europeans) on equal footing.

It was viewed by the colonial government as a challenge to the supremacy of the monarchy of the United Kingdom, leading in turn to the 1863 invasion of the Waikato, which was partly motivated by a drive to neutralise the Kīngitanga's power and influence.

[5][6][page needed] From the early 1850s, North Island Māori came under increasing pressure to satisfy the demand of European settler farmers for arable land.

Some influential chiefs including Te Rauparaha opposed land sales in the 1840s (culminating in the 1843 Wairau Affray), and the view became more widespread in the following decade, when the Pākehā (European) population grew to outnumber Māori and the colonial government's Native Land Purchase Department adopted unscrupulous methods to take ownership, which included offers to chiefs or small groups of owners.

[5]: 112 Several North Island candidates who were asked to put themselves forward declined;[9] in February 1857, a few weeks after a key intertribal meeting in Taupō, Wiremu Tamihana, a chief of the Ngāti Hauā iwi in eastern Waikato, circulated a proposal to appoint as king the elderly and high-ranking Waikato chief Te Wherowhero, and a major meeting to deal with it was organised to be held at Rangiriri in April.

[12][6]: 68–72, 83 In his acceptance speech Pōtatau stressed the spirit of unity symbolised by the kingship and called on his people to "hold fast to love, to the law, and to faith in God.

In June 1857 he wrote to London that "I apprehend no sort of danger from the present movement, but it is evident that the establishment of a separate nationality by the Māoris in any form or shape if persevered in would end sooner or later in collision."

Though there were still no signs the movement was developing an aggressive spirit, Browne soon began expressing his fear that "it will resolve into a conflict of race and become the greatest political difficulty we have had to contend with".

[13] Throughout 1859 emissaries of the King movement travelled through the North Island, including Taranaki, Wanganui and Hawkes Bay, seeking further adherents, with iwi sometimes divided in their support.

"[6]: 83 On 10 April 1860, three weeks after the start of the Taranaki wars, deputations from west coast iwi Te Āti Awa and Ngā Ruanui attended a gathering of Waikato Māori at Ngāruawāhia and tendered their formal allegiance to the king.

Tāwhiao's succession to the position of King coincided with a period of increasing friction between Māori and the Auckland-based settler government over issues of land ownership and sovereignty.

[6]: 128, 131 [15] Browne's successor, Sir George Grey, told a large Māori gathering at Taupari near the mouth of the Waikato River in December 1861 that the King movement was bad and should be abandoned.

[18] Tāwhiao and his close followers fled into the bush and steep limestone valleys of Maniapoto territory, which was subsequently known as the King Country, declaring that Europeans risked death if they crossed the aukati or boundary of the confiscated land.

[19] Though there were radical elements in the Kīngitanga movement who favoured a resumption of war, including Rewi Maniapoto and possibly Tāwhiao himself, moderates continued to warn the King that they had little chance of success and risked annihilation by becoming involved in Te Kooti's actions.

"[10] He travelled to London in 1884 with Western Maori MP Wiremu Te Wheoro to lead a deputation with a petition to the Crown about Māori land grievances but was refused an audience with the Queen.

This parliament, which consisted of 96 members from the North and South Islands under Prime Minister Hāmiora Mangakāhia, was formed as part of the Kotahitanga (unification) movement, which Tāwhiao refused to join.

The poukais later evolved into regular consultation meetings between Kīngitanga leadership and its followers where funds were also raised to cover the movement's expenses and the upkeep of local marae.

[10] In 1911 Mahuta withdrew his backing for Kaihau in Western Maori after discovering he had presided over the loss of £50,000 of Kīngitanga moneys and used his niece, Te Puea Herangi, to swing support to doctor and former Health Department medical officer Maui Pomare in that year's general election.

Te Puea's involvement in campaigning for Mahuta's preferred candidate marked her elevation to a position of chief organiser for the King movement, a role she held until her death in 1952.

Te Puea built up facilities at the Mangatawhiri pā and revived the recitation of tribal history, the singing of Waikato songs and other cultural traditions.

[10]: 66–71 In 1913 Taingakawa convinced Te Rata to head another delegation to England to petition the Crown to revoke the land confiscations as a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.

An intertribal meeting at Raglan decided all King movement adherents would contribute a shilling a head to cover the cost and the four-man delegation sailed from Auckland on 11 April 1914.

On 11 July 1918 police arrived at Te Paina, the King movement's pā at Mangatawhiri, and began arresting males who had failed to report for military duty.

The anti-conscription stance led to the Kīngitanga movement being widely regarded by Pākehā as seditious traitors and German sympathisers and also drove a wedge between Te Puea and Pomare, who throughout the war urged all Māori to fight for empire forces.

She pioneered efforts to care for victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic, helped Waikato Māori turn previously unused land into farms and developed the movement's new spiritual and cultural home, the Tūrangawaewae marae at Ngāruawāhia.

Shy and reserved, he was crowned on 8 October 1933 at the age of about 25 and accepted the role reluctantly, protesting that with so many Waikato Māori living in poverty they could not afford a king.

Throughout his reign he came under the strong but conflicting influence of several opposing factions which created some controversies; he also notably lost a battle with politicians to keep King Country free of liquor licences.

[27] King Tuheitia's daughter and youngest child, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, was announced by the Tekau-ma-Rua as the next monarch on 5 September 2024, the last day of his tangi.