In 1987, a series of coups resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra, and the declaration of a republic.
Ten years later, after constitutional talks and an election, Sitiveni Rabuka, who instigated the two military coups, presented a tabua, a tooth of a sperm whale, to Queen Elizabeth during the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.