Living out the remainder of his life as a village chief, Teuruarii left many descendants who would have a strong influence in the islands to the modern day.

[7] His older half-sister Tetuamarama, daughter of his father's first wife Temataurarii a Tavita, was married into the royal family of Huahine and was the mother of that island's last queen, Tehaapapa III.

This early succession was a consequence of a decision taken in old age by Epatiana's father to abdicate and journey back to his homeland of Huahine, where he died shortly after arrival.

[15] Because of Epatiana's youth and inexperience, his mother Taarouru served as regent for an indeterminate number of years until the prince was deemed fit to rule independently.

The ceremony included donning a feather headdress and the maro'ura, a sacred loincloth of red-tinted tapa cloth similar to the ones worn by the chiefs in the Society Islands, before being carried on the backs of two natives.

[16] During the regency, he and his mother abolished the Va'a Tai 'Aru, the law, enacted by his father, which had made crimes such as murder, treason and adultery punishable by death.

[18][19] In the late 19th-century, Rurutu shared a close relationship with the neighboring island of Rimatara, which was also ruled by an adolescent monarch, in the person of Queen Tamaeva IV.

By 1880, France had formally annexed the Kingdom of Tahiti and its dependencies in the Austral Islands, including Raivavae and Tubuai, Rurutu's neighbors to the south.

The following year, Rapa Iti and Marotiri, further south, were also annexed to France, such that among the islands of the Austral archipelago, only Rurutu and Rimatara remained independent of French control.

[22] Teuruarii anticipated eventual European interests in Rurutu, but viewed the United Kingdom as a friendlier state than France due to the island's adherence to Protestantism.

Upon hearing news that the neighboring Cook Islands had been declared a protectorate of the United Kingdom, the King decided to ally himself with Great Britain.

[23][24][25][26] On 27 November 1888, Teuruarii and Tameava, along with their retinue of chiefs, visited the neighboring island kingdom of Rarotonga aboard two ships named the Faaito and the Ronui, to ask for British protection against French aggression.

We, Teuruarii, King of Rurutu and Te Maere, Queen of Rimatara and our nobles, ask for the Prime Minister to place our islands and our ships under the protection of the British flag.

When we received the news that Rarotonga and the neighbouring islands were placed under your protection, we wept aloud because we were forsaken by you; we were afraid lest we should be adopted by another parent.

[23][26]The efforts of the two monarchs could not yield the desired result because the French, upon learning of their request, responded promptly to what they perceived as a threat to their interests in the Pacific.

[33]By contrast, French observers remarked favorably on the industriousness and intelligence of the people of Rurutu, as well as the success of Teuruarii in increasing revenues through maritime trade with neighboring islands.

The economic disadvantages of the protectorate status became even more evident when France closed the Tahitian ports to all foreigners in 1899, including merchants from Rurutu, in response to an outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco.

Teuruarii incurred much debt during these trips, and the need to pay off his creditors along with the restriction on trade prompted him to consider formal annexation to France.

Laws that punished adultery and violation of the Sabbath, enacted during the kingdom's Protestant period, were revoked, and the royal monopoly on turtle meat was abolished.

In 1923, one of his sons, Rooteatauira a Teuruarii, was involved in a controversial embezzlement case that called into question the jurisdiction of French law over native inhabitants of its territories.

[42] On 14 October 1964, Toromona ran unsuccessfully for a position in the French Territorial Assembly with Tetuamanuhiri Tetaumatani as his running mate, although he did manage to win a significant number of votes.