She began collecting and recording waiata (songs), whakapapa (genealogies) and kōrero tawhito (history) from her extended family.
Her first task, the one that re-established her mana among her people, was to successfully campaign on behalf of Māui Pōmare in his election bid to become the Kingite Member of Parliament.
He became aware of her attitude and in the winter of 1918 attended an anti-conscription hui called by Te Puea where he was roundly abused by all the elders of the Kīngitanga.
Te Puea's support base was mainly with the lower Waikato tribes initially – she was a minor figure for up-river iwi such as Maniapoto.
They were an iwi that had remained loyal to the government, taking an active part against the Kingites in the land wars and playing a full role in WW1.
The construction of its carved meeting house was strongly supported by Sir Āpirana Ngata and the Ngāti Porou people.
She became friendly with the Prime Minister, Gordon Coates who was raised in a rural community where many Māori lived, and with journalist Eric Ramsden who publicised her tours and the development of the Kīngitanga base at Tūrangawaewae.
[9] In response, Te Puea set up a small settlement of nīkau huts devoted to nursing people back to health.
[citation needed] Te Puea's main drive was to establish Tūrangawaewae as a base for the Kīngitanga but she was always short of funds.
In 1922 she decided to raise money for her ambitious building programme by starting a Māori concert party called Te Pou o Mangawhiri .
Choosing this name (the place where General Cameron crossed into rebel held territory in 1863) she hoped to remind the Pākehā of the war and the confiscations.
Te Puea used the contacts she had made, especially with Māori MP and minister Āpirana Ngata to further her development of the Kīngitanga base.
She was able to acquire from the government a block of land near the meeting house for growing vegetables, increased pensions and a local post box.
Labour MP Bob Semple said that the commission revealed one of the worst specimens of abuse of political power, maladministration and misappropriation of public funds.
[12] Te Puea was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for social welfare services, in the 1937 Coronation Honours.
The CBE was awarded for her self-sacrificing devotion and stupendous personal efforts and extraordinary capacity for leadership and organisation, with a talent for diplomacy in her dealings with other tribes and leaders amongst the Pakeha... she turned idle lands into productive excellent farms.
The Government planned nationwide celebrations for the centenary in 1940 of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the document that founded modern New Zealand.
Initially Te Puea was in favour, but then withdrew her support when the government refused her request that the Māori king be given the same tax status as the governor-general.
In 1946 Te Puea approached the government to say the tribe would be willing to accept money to compensate for the loss of lands after the defeat of the Kīngitanga in 1863.
In December 1947, Te Puea became a member of a trust that administered a Māori land reserve in Māngere Bridge, Auckland.
[17] The land had been settled in the 19th century by her Ngāti Mahuta relatives, including Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, prior to his becoming the first Māori King, and Kati Takiwaru.
King tried to persuade the Māori author Pei te Hurinui Jones, to write the biography but he refused, saying he knew too much about her.