request of the Mai and Tafaaora clans. Tapoa II, however, remained on good terms with Pomare IV, his ex-wife, and in 1845 he adopted one of her daughters, Teriimaevarua, whom he designated as heiress. When in 1842, the Kingdom of Tahiti was placed under the protectorate of France, Bora Bora was not concerned, and the island did not suffer the troubles that would follow either. However, Bora Bora benefited from the fallout from the Pritchard affair, since, to put an end to the Franco-British quarrel, Louis Philippe ratified the Jarnac Convention of June 19, 1847, which recognized the independence of the Leeward Islands, including Bora Bora. The two great colonial powers undertook not to take possession of these islands, nor even to place them under protectorate. It is therefore that Tapoa II reigned over an independent island until his death in 1860. On July 30, 1860, his adopted daughter Teriimaevarua II was crowned Queen of Bora Bora by Reverend Platt. She reigned over the island until her death in 1873. Teriimaevarua having no children, the crown then passed to her niece, Teriimaevarua III, daughter of Tamatoa V, king of Raiatea and granddaughter of Pomare IV. On January 9, 1884, she married Prince Hinoi, also a grandson of Pomare IV. The end of independence Under the reign of Teriimaevarua III, the international situation changed. Indeed, the Jarnac Convention, guaranteed the independence of the Leeward Islands, only committed its two signatories, France and Great Britain. However, from 1878, Germany seemed to take a close interest in the Leeward Islands. In 1879, the Germans tried to forge alliances with Raiatea and Bora Bora. Both islands refused, and Teriimaevarua III informed the French government of the German attempt. For France, it was becoming urgent to repeal the Jarnac Convention, in order to prevent the installation of a rival power at the gates of its colony, especially since with the expected opening of the Panama Canal, the position of the Society Islands would become strategic. To cope with German attempts, Raiatea and Tahaa also requested the protection of France in 1880. Between 1880 and 1887, these two islands were placed under the provisional protectorate of France. First of all, the chiefs and the Queen of Bora Bora declared themselves ready to accept the French protectorate, subject to a British agreement, then showed themselves hostile to a questioning of their independence by France. Meanwhile, France and