Pōmare IV ruled Tahiti from 1827 to 1877, through a period of growing European interference. She sought British support against French expansion and spent time in exile on Raʻiātea. Returning in 1847, she reluctantly accepted rule under French administration. Her story resists an easy victory narrative. It invites us to recognize the difficult choices women make when their authority is constrained, and to remember the people whose futures are bound up in those decisions.