Thousands of people gathered for the funeral of Maori King Tuheitia, whose coffin was guarded by warriors and then carried on a traditional boat.

Mourners have arrived in the North Island town of Ngāruawāhia to pay their final respects to the New Zealand Māori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, who died six days earlier.

The throne will now pass to his daughter, and she will be succeeded by Nga Wai Hono and those after Paki.

The new queen, 27, is the second woman to become Māori monarch, in a tradition that dates back to 1858.

As she was escorted to where her father’s feather-draped coffin lay, cheers rose from the thousands of people who had gathered around television screens and waited along the wide, flat banks of the Waikato River to watch the funeral procession.

The coffin containing the body of the New Zealand Maori King, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII

Maori King Tuheitia at Turangawaewae Marae meets with Britain’s Prince Charles at Ngaruawahia, south of Auckland, New Zealand, November 8, 2015.

The throne will now be passed on to his daughter and we will witness the accession of his daughter, Nga Wai Hono and those after Paki (pictured)

Kiingi Tuheitia’s successor and current Maori Queen Nga Wai hono i te po Paki watches as Maori warriors sail their waka canoes towards Taupiri Maunga

Maori warriors attend the funeral of a New Zealand Maori king

Upon her accession to the throne, Nga Wai Hono and te po Paki accompanied the deceased king in a flotilla of traditional boats along the river while Maori warriors conducted him to his final resting place.

The events concluded a week-long tangihanga ritual – funeral rite – for 69-year-old Kiingi Tuheitia, a leader who in recent months has united New Zealand’s indigenous people in the face of an increasingly racially divided political culture.

His daughter’s accession symbolises the birth of a new generation of Māori leaders in New Zealand – a generation that has grown up surrounded by the revival of a language that was once nearly extinct.

Kiingi Tuheitia died last Friday following heart surgery, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his reign.

He became king after his mother died in 2006 and was buried on Thursday next to her in an unmarked grave on Taupiri Maunga, a mountain with spiritual significance to his iwi, or tribe.

The Māori royal movement is not a constitutional monarchy and New Zealand’s head of state is King Charles III of the United Kingdom.

The organisation is ceremonial, not legal, and was founded after the British colonisation of New Zealand to unite Maori tribes opposed to the forced sale of indigenous lands and the loss of Maori language and culture.

Since 1858 the movement has advocated for Māori sovereignty, but the monarchs have not been involved in politics.

After a centre-right government took power in New Zealand last November and began enacting policies to withdraw recognition of the Māori language, people and customs, the T*Tuheitia party took the unusual step of calling a national meeting of the tribes in January, which was attended by 10,000 people.

A Maori warrior prepares a boat for a funeral ceremony.

His daughter’s accession to the throne symbolises the rise of a new generation of Maori leaders in New Zealand

The remains of Kiinga Tuheitia are placed on a waka by the Waikato River, where they were supposedly carried by Maori warriors towards Taupiri Maunga during a tangi, or funeral ritual.

Maori warriors attend the funeral of a New Zealand Maori king

“The best protest we can do right now is to be Māori. Let’s be ourselves. Let’s live our values. Let’s talk about our reo,” he told them, using the Māori word for language. “Just be Māori. Be Māori all day, every day. We are here. We are strong.”

Tens of thousands of ordinary people also gathered there, many speaking Maori, a language that gradually disappeared after colonization until the 1970s, when activists sparked its renaissance.

The late king, who was a truck driver before taking the throne, was unexpectedly elected to the position of monarch. The power is elected by a council and does not have to be hereditary.

However, the new queen was prepared for this role and in recent years she accompanied her father in his work.

After the new queen was anointed with oils and a service was held for her father, mourners gathered behind the hearse as it made its way to the banks of a river sacred to his tribe.

Many waited for hours to watch the procession pass, including a large number of young families. Commentators said the Queen’s accession to the throne marked a renewal of culture, as most Maori – who make up almost 20% of New Zealand’s population – are under 40.

Among them on Thursday was 9-year-old Awa Tukiri, whose family drove almost two hours from Auckland to watch the boat carrying the late king sail past.

“It was amazing because on the ship they only do haka and waiata,” he said, using words from Maori songs and chants. Tukiri, who attends kura kaupapa – immersion schools that are becoming increasingly popular – said the best part of being Maori was “just hanging out and talking to each other in Maori.”