assist Western Samoa in foreign policy if desired. Samoa i Sisifo was the first Polynesian people to be recognized as a sovereign nation in the 20th century. Samoa became one of the Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations on 28 August 1970. In 1977, Queen Elizabeth II visited Samoa during her tour of the Commonwealth. A conflict briefly emerged between Samoa and American Samoa following Samoa's decision to drop the adjective "Western" from its name. The change was made by an act of the Legislative Assembly of Western Samoa adopted on 4 July 1997. The step caused "surprise and uproar" in neighboring American Samoa, as for some American Samoans the change of name implied a claim to be the "real" Samoa and implied that American Samoa was just an American appendix. Two members of American Samoa's legislature traveled to Apia in September 1997 to meet with Samoan head of State Malietoa Tanumafili II, and lobbied to have the name change reversed in order to maintain peace and good relations. An American Samoan petition to the United Nations for a ban on Samoa's using the name Samoa was seriously discussed and ten American Samoan representatives sponsored an unsuccessful bill aimed at preventing American Samoa from recognizing independent Samoa's new name. The proposed American Samoan bill was criticized by independent Samoa's Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana who called the bill "rash and irresponsible". In 2002, New Zealand's prime minister Helen Clark formally apologized for two incidents during the period of New Zealand's administration: a failure in 1918 to quarantine the , which carried the 'Spanish 'flu' to Samoa, leading to an epidemic which devastated the Samoan population, and the shooting of leaders of the non-violent Mau movement during a ceremonial procession in 1929. In 2007, Samoa's first head of state, His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II, died at age 95. He held this title jointly with Tupua Tamasese Lealofi until the latter's death in 1963. Malietoa Tanumafili II was Samoa's Head of State for 45 years. He was the son of Malietoa Tanumafili I, who was the last Samoan king recognized by Europe and the Western World. Samoa's current head of state is His Highness Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II, who was anointed the head of state title with the unanimous endorsement of Samoa's Parliament, a symbol of traditional Samoan protocol in alignment with Samoan decision-making stressing the importance of consensus in the