Her mother was the adoptive daughter of King Pōmare II's widow, the mother of Pōmare III and Pōmare IV. Considered one of the highest ranking chieftainesses in the land, she was head of the Teva clan, the traditional rivals of the Pōmare family, and descended from Chief Amo and Queen Purea who received the first European explorer to Tahiti Samuel Wallis in 1767. In 1846, Ariitamai was considered a rival candidate to the throne by the French governor Armand Joseph Bruat in the event that Queen Pōmare IV did not return from her self-imposed exile to Raiatea during the Franco-Tahitian War and comply with a French protectorate over Tahiti.
