Royal Palace of Tonga

The official residence of the Tongan monarch stands on Nuku'alofa's waterfront, a white Victorian timber building with red roofs first erected in the 1860s. Prefabricated in New Zealand and assembled on the shore, it has served as the seat of the Tupou dynasty for over a century and is closely tied to Tonga's status as the only surviving Polynesian kingdom. Surrounded by lawns and Norfolk pines, the palace is not open to the public but is easily viewed and photographed from the road and seafront.