by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population declined to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

• Unofficial Royalty Index: Kingdom of Hawaii Index

********************

John Owen Dominis, Prince Consort of the Hawaiian Islands; Credit – Wikipedia

The husband of Queen Liliuokalani, the only Queen Regnant and the last monarch of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, John Owen Dominis was born on March 10, 1832, in Schenectady, New York. He was the youngest of the three children and the only son of John Dominis (1796 – 1846), originally from Trieste, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Italy, and American-born Mary Lambert Jones. John had two older sisters Mary Elizabeth Dominis (1825 – 1838), Frances Ann Dominis (1829 – 1842), who both died when they were thirteen years old.

John’s father Captain John Dominis; Credit – Wikipedia

Being a sea captain, John’s father was frequently absent from home. He was involved in the Old China Trade and the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest with the British Hudson’s Bay Company. Captain John frequently stopped in the Hawaiian Islands to conduct business and resupply. Captain John, his wife Mary, and their son John relocated to Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands in 1837. They left their two daughters in the United States to complete their education but they both died at the age of thirteen.

Washinton Place in Honolulu; Credit – By Frank Schulenburg – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146081316

King Kamehameha III awarded some land to the family in 1842 as a settlement of a lawsuit with the British Consul Richard Charlton. Captain John continued to take voyages to raise money for the construction of a house. In 1846, Captain John sailed for China to purchase Chinese-made furniture for the nearly complete house. The ship was lost at sea, and John’s mother Mary became a widow. To make ends meet, Mary rented out rooms to boarders. One of the first boarders was Anthony Ten Eyck, an American Commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands who established the American Legation in the house. Ten Eyck named the house Washington Place on February 22, 1848 after George Washington in celebration of the first president’s birthday. The Dominis family continued to live at Washington Place. It eventually became the private residence of John and his wife Queen Liliuokalani, and they both died at Washington Place. Later Washington Place became the official residence of the Governor of Hawaii, and in 2007, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The current governor’s residence, built in 2008, is located on the same grounds as Washington Place.

John attended a school next to the Royal School, founded for the children of the native Hawaiian nobility, and he would climb the fence to observe the princes and princesses, and became friends with them. It was there that he first met his future wife, then Princess Liliuokalani. When John finished his schooling, he worked as a mercantile clerk in San Francisco, and as a clerk in a Honolulu commercial house. By 1856, he was a staff member to Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, the future King Kamehameha V, and then a secretary to King Kamehameha IV. John and Liliuokalani became romantically involved.

The future Queen Liliuokalani: Credit – Wikipedia

On September 16, 1862, John and Liliuokalani were married in an Anglican ceremony by Reverend Samuel Chenery Damon, a missionary to Hawaii and pastor of the Seamen’s Bethel Church in Honolulu. The couple moved into the Dominis residence, Washington Place in Honolulu. However, the marriage was not happy and was childless. John chose to socialize without Liliuokalani and his mother Mary looked down upon her non-caucasian daughter-in-law. Liliuokalani noted in her memoir that her mother-in-law considered her an “intruder” but became more affectionate in her later years.

John’s marriage to Liliuokalani and his close friendship with King Kamehameha V brought him many honors including:

• Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and the Royal Order of Kalākaua
• Member of the Privy Council of the Hawaiian Kingdom (1863 – 1886)
• Member of the House of Nobles (1864 – 1886)
• Royal Governor of Oahu (1864 – 1886)
• Royal Governor of Maui (1878 – 1886)
• Lieutenant General and Commander in Chief (appointed 1886)
• Served on the Board of Health, Board of Education, Bureau of Immigration, and was Quartermaster General and Commissioner of Crown Lands

John’s illegitimate son John ʻAimoku Dominis with Liliuokalani in 1913; Credit – Wikipedia

John had an illegitimate son John ʻAimoku Dominis (1883 – 1917) with Mary Purdy Lamiki ʻAimoku, his wife’s servant. Liliʻuokalani accepted her husband’s unfaithfulness and adopted her husband’s son in 1910. John ʻAimoku Dominis married Sybil Frances Kahulumanu McInerny in 1911, and the couple had three children. He died on July 7, 1917, aged thirty-four, after suffering from a long illness.

Upon the death of her brother King Kalākaua on January 20, 1891, Lilluokalani became the first and the only female monarch of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, and John became Prince Consort. John Owen Dominis, aged fifty-nine, died less than a year later on August 27, 1891, at their Washington Place home, and was buried in the Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum in Honolulu. Due to overcrowding, in 1907, the Territory of Hawaii allocated $20,000 for the construction of a separate underground vault for the Kalākaua family. John’s coffin and the coffins of the Kalākaua family were transferred to the new underground Kalākaua Crypt in a ceremony on June 24, 1910, officiated by his wife, the former Queen Liliuokalani.

Burial crypts of John Dominis (left) & Queen Liliuokalani (middle) in the Kalākaua Crypt; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Two years after John’s death, in 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States. Liliʻuokalani survived her husband by twenty-six years, dying on November 11, 1917, at the age of seventy-nine at her home, Washington Place in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was interred in Kalākaua Crypt next to John’s burial crypt on the grounds of the Royal Mausoleum of Mauna ʻAla in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Works Cited

• Flantzer, Susan. (2024). Lilluokalani, Queen of the Hawiian Islands. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/liliuokalani-queen-of-the-hawaiian-islands/
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). John Owen Dominis. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Owen_Dominis
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Mary Dominis. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Dominis
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Washington Place. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Place

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population declined to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

• Unofficial Royalty Index: Kingdom of Hawaii Index

********************

Liliuokalani, Queen of the Hawaiian Islands, 1891; Credit – Wikipedia

Liliuokalani, Queen of the Hawaiian Islands was the only queen regnant and the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, reigning from 1891 until she was deposed in 1893. She was the composer of Aloha ʻOe or Farewell to Thee, one of the most recognizable Hawaiian songs. Born Lydia Liliʻu Loloku Walania Kamakaʻeha on September 2, 1838, in Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in the Kingdom of Hawaii, now in the state of Hawaii, she was the third but second surviving of the seven children and the eldest of the three daughters of first cousins Caesar Kaluaiku Kamakaʻehukai Kahana Keola Kapaʻakea and Analea Keohokālole. Liliuokalani was baptized by American missionary Reverend Levi Chamberlain on December 23, 1893, and given the Christian name Lydia.

Liliuokalani‘s family was aliʻi nui, Hawaiian nobility, and were distantly related to the reigning House of Kamehameha, sharing common descent from Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku, King of the island of Hawaii and the great-grandfather of Kamehameha I, the first King of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Her father Caesar Kapaʻakea was a Hawaiian chief who served in the House of Nobles from 1845 until he died in 1866 and on the King’s Privy Council from 1846 – 1866. Her mother Analea Keohokālole, who was of a higher rank than her husband, was a Hawaiian chiefess and a member of the House of Nobles from 1841 to 1847, and on the King’s Privy Council 1846 to 1847.

Liliuokalani had six siblings who survived infancy:

• James Kaliokalani (1835 – 1852), died in his teens
• Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands (1836 – 1891), born David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua, married Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe, no children
• Anna Kaʻiulani (1842 – ?)
• Kaʻiminaʻauao (1845 – 1848), died from measles during an epidemic of measles, whooping cough, and influenza that killed more than 10,000 Native Hawaiians
• Miriam Likelike (1851 – 1887), married Archibald Scott Cleghorn, Scottish businessman, had one daughter Princess Kaʻiulani, the last heir to the throne before the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
• William Pitt Leleiohoku II (1855 – 1877), unmarried, died from rheumatic fever

Liliuokalani in 1853; Credit – Wikipedia

Liliuokalani was declared eligible to be in the line of succession by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III and therefore attended the Chiefs’ Children’s School, later known as Royal School, in Honolulu, which is still in existence as a public elementary school, the Royal Elementary School, the oldest school on the island of Oahu. Her classmates included the other children declared eligible to be in the line of succession including her siblings James Kaliokalani and the future King Kalākaua, and their thirteen royal relations including the future kings Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, and Lunalilo.

After her schooling was complete, Liliuokalani became a part of the young social elite during the reign of King Kamehameha IV (reigned 1855 – 1863). In 1856, when King Kamehameha IV announced that he would marry their classmate Emma Rooke, there were some at the Hawaiian court who thought that his bride should be Liliuokalani because she was his equal in birth and rank. However, Liliuokalani became a close friend of Queen Emma and was a maid of honor at Emma’s wedding and one of her ladies-in-waiting.

After a brief engagement to William Charles Lunalilo, the future Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands (reigned 1873 – 1874), Liliuokalani became romantically involved with the American-born John Owen Dominis, a staff member to Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, the future King Kamehameha V, and then a secretary to King Kamehameha IV. Born on March 10, 1832, in Schenectady, New York, John was the son of sea captain John Dominis, originally from Trieste, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in Italy, who emigrated to the United States, and American-born Mary Lambert Jones Dominis. In 1837, the couple relocated to the Kingdom of Hawaii with their son John. Liliuokalani and John had known each other from childhood. John attended a school next to the Royal School, would climb the fence to observe the princes and princesses, and became friends with them.

John Owen Dominis, Prince Consort of the Hawaiian Islands; Credit – Wikipedia

On September 16, 1862, Liliuokalani and John were married in an Anglican ceremony by Reverend Samuel Chenery Damon, a missionary to Hawaii and pastor of the Seamen’s Bethel Church in Honolulu. The couple moved into the Dominis residence, Washington Place in Honolulu. However, the marriage was not happy and was childless. John chose to socialize without Liliuokalani and his mother Mary Dominis looked down upon her non-caucasian daughter-in-law. Liliuokalani noted in her memoir that her mother-in-law considered her an “intruder” but became more affectionate in her later years.

Liliuokalani’s brother David (King Kalākaua); Credit – Wikipedia

On February 3, 1874, Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands (born William Charles Lunalilo) died from tuberculosis at the age of 39 without naming an heir. As King Lunalilo had wanted to make Hawaii more democratic, it is thought that he wished to have the people choose their next ruler. The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the people’s representatives, would choose the next monarch from the eligible royal family members. Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV, claimed that King Lunalilo had wanted her to succeed him, but he died before a formal proclamation could be made. She decided to run in the election against Liliuokalni’s brother David who had lost to King Lunalilo in a similar election in 1873. While the Hawaiian people supported Emma, it was the legislature that elected the new monarch. They favored David who won the election 39 – 6. David reigned as King Kalākaua and became the first of two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaiian Islands from the House of Kalākaua, who were also the last two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Upon his accession to the throne, King Kalākaua (David) named his brother William Pitt Leleiohoku II as his heir apparent. When his brother died from rheumatic fever in 1877, King Kalākaua named his sister Liliuokalani as his heir apparent. She acted as regent during her brother’s absences from the country.

Liliuokalani (left) and Kapiʻolani (right) at the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria; Credit – Wikipedia

In April 1887, Liliuokalani, her husband John Owen Dominis, and her sister-in-law Queen Kapiʻolani were part of the delegation from the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands sent to attend the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in London. Kapiʻolani and Liliuokalani were granted an audience with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. They attended the special Jubilee service at Westminster Abbey and were seated with other foreign royal guests.

On November 25, 1890, Liliuokalani’s brother King Kalākaua sailed for California aboard the USS Charleston. The purpose of the trip was uncertain but there were reports that the trip was for his ill health. David arrived in San Francisco, California on December 5, 1890. He suffered a minor stroke in Santa Barbara, California, and was rushed back to San Francisco. Two days before his death, he lapsed into a coma. King Kalākaua died in San Francisco, California on January 20, 1891, aged 54. On January 29, 1891, in the presence of the cabinet ministers and the Supreme Court justices, the new Queen Liliuokalani took the oath of office to uphold the constitution and became the first and the only female monarch of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. Liliuokalani’s husband John Owen Dominis died less than a year later on August 27, 1891, at their Washington Place home and was buried in the Mauna Ala Royal Mausoleum in Honolulu.

In 1875, during the reign of Queen Liliuokalani’s brother, the Reciprocity Treaty, a free trade agreement between the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands and the United States, gave free access to the United States market for sugar and other products grown in the Kingdom of Hawaii. In return, Hawaii guaranteed the United States that it would not cede or lease any of its land to other foreign powers. Then in 1887, also during the reign of Queen Liliuokalani’s brother, a new constitution was proposed by anti-monarchists that would strip the absolute Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority and transfer power to a coalition of American, European, and native Hawaiians. It became known as the Bayonet Constitution because of the armed militia that forced King Kalākaua to sign it or be deposed.

During her reign, Queen Liliuokalani attempted to draft a new constitution that would restore the power of the monarchy. Threatened by Queen Liliuokalani’s attempts to negate the Bayonet Constitution, in 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The overthrow was supported by the landing of United States Marines to protect American interests, making the monarchy unable to protect itself. The Republic of Hawaii was established but the ultimate goal was the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States which would happen in 1898.

Liliʻuokalani being escorted up the steps of ʻIolani Palace, where she was imprisoned after the unsuccessful uprising of 1895; Credit – Wikipedia

In January 1895, a short, unsuccessful uprising to restore the monarchy was launched. On January 16, 1895, Liliuokalani was arrested and placed under house arrest at the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu when firearms were found at her home, Washington Place, after a tip from a prisoner. On January 24, 1895, Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate, officially ending the monarchy.  Liliuokalani was tried by the military commission of the new Republic of Hawaii and was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison and fined $5,000. The sentence was commuted on September 4, 1895, to imprisonment in the ʻIolani Palace. On October 13, 1896, the Republic of Hawaii granted Liliuokalani a full pardon and restored her civil rights.

Cover of Liliuokalani’s song Aloha ʻOe, 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

After her pardon, Liliuokalani felt the need to leave Hawaii, at least for a while. From December 1896 through January 1897, Liliuokalani stayed in Brookline, Massachusetts with her late husband’s cousins William Lee and Sara White Lee of the Lee & Shepard Publishing House. William and Sara and Liliuokalani’s long-time friend Julius A. Palmer Jr. helped her compile and publish her book of Hawaiian songs and her memoir Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen which gave her point of view of the history of her country and her overthrow. Liliuokalani’s most famous song is Aloha ʻOe or Farewell to Thee. It was originally written as a lover’s goodbye, but the song came to be regarded as a symbol of the loss of her country, the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands. It remains one of the most recognizable Hawaiian songs.

Washinton Place, Liliuokalani’s home in Honolulu; Credit – By Frank Schulenburg – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146081316

At the end of her visit to Massachusetts, Liliuokalani began to divide her time between Hawaii and Washington, D.C., where she worked to plead her case to the United States. Unsuccessful attempts were made to restore the monarchy and oppose annexation and the United States formally annexed Hawaii as a territory in 1898. In 1909, Liliuokalani brought an unsuccessful lawsuit against the United States under the Fifth Amendment seeking the return of the Hawaiian Crown Lands. The American courts invoked an 1864 Kingdom of Hawaii Supreme Court decision over a case involving Dowager Queen Emma and King Kamehameha V. In this decision, the courts found that the Crown Lands were not necessarily the private possession of the monarch in the strictest sense of the term. In 1911, Liliuokalani was granted a lifetime pension of $1,250 a month by the Territory of Hawaii.

Queen Liliuokalani lying in state at Iolani Palace; Credit – Wikipedia

By 1917, her health was suffering. She lost the use of her legs and her mental capacity was severely diminished. On the morning of November 11, 1917, Liliʻuokalani died at the age of seventy-nine at her home, Washington Place in Honolulu, Hawaii. The former queen lay in state at Kawaiahaʻo Church for public viewing, after which she received a state funeral in the throne room of ‘Iolani Palace, on November 18, 1917. Composer Charles E. King led a youth choir in Aloha ʻOe as her coffin was moved to her burial place. The procession participants and the crowds of people along the route began to sing the song. Liliuokalani was interred with her family members in the Kalākaua Crypt on the grounds of the Royal Mausoleum of Mauna ʻAla in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The burial vault of Queen Liliuokalani in the Kalākaua Crypt; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Flantzer, Susan. (2024). Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/kalakaua-king-of-the-hawaiian-islands/
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Liliʻuokalani. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili%CA%BBuokalani
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population had declined to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

• Unofficial Royalty Index: Kingdom of Hawaii Index

********************

Kapiʻolani, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Islands; Credit – Wikipedia

Kapiʻolani, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Islands was the wife of Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands, who reigned from 1874 to 1891. Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe was born on December 31, 1834, in Hilo on the island of Hawaii, then in the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, now in the state of Hawaii. She was the eldest of the three daughters of High Chief Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki Kekaulike of Kauaʻi, the daughter of King Kaumualiʻi, the last king of an independent Kauaʻi. Kapiʻolani’s Christian name was Esther but unlike other Christian Hawaiian royals, she and her two sisters never used their Christian names. When Kapiʻolani was sixteen, she was sent to the royal court in Honolulu on the island of Oahu and was under the guardianship of King Kamehameha III. Kapiʻolani learned to understand a few English words and phrases but she never learned to speak English fluently and required a Hawaiian translator when communicating with English speakers.

Kapiʻolani had two younger sisters:

• Virginia Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani (1839 – 1895), married Hiram Kahanawai, no children
• Victoria Kūhiō Kinoiki Kekaulike (1843 – 1884), married David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi, had three sons

Kapiʻolani in 1852, the year she married Bennett Nāmākēhā; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 7, 1852, 17-year-old Kapiʻolani married 53-year-old High Chief Bennett Nāmākēhā, as his third wife. Bennett was a member of the House of Nobles and the uncle of Queen Emma, the wife of King Kamehameha IV. The marriage was childless but Kapiʻolani and Bennett were appointed the caretakers of Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha, the only child of Emma and King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. Kapiʻolani also served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Emma. Sadly, the young prince died in 1862, when he was four years old. Two years earlier, Kapiʻolani’s husband Bennett died on December 27, 1860, aged sixty-one.

David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua, (King Kalākaua); Credit – Wikipedia

On December 19, 1863, Kapiʻolani married David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua, the future King Kalākaua, who was only two years older than Kapiʻolani. Their marriage was childless. David’s family was aliʻi nui, Hawaiian nobility, and was distantly related to the reigning House of Kamehameha, sharing common descent from Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku, King of the island of Hawaii and the great-grandfather of Kamehameha I, the first King of the Kingdom of Hawaii. David’s father Caesar Kapaʻakea was a Hawaiian chief who served in the House of Nobles from 1845 until he died in 1866 and on the King’s Privy Council from 1846 – 1866. David’s mother Analea Keohokālole, who was of a higher rank than her husband, was a Hawaiian chiefess and a member of the House of Nobles from 1841 to 1847, and on the King’s Privy Council from 1846 to 1847. David was declared eligible to be in the line of succession by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III. He served in the House of Nobles, and the Privy Council of State and held many other court and government posts during the reigns of King Kamehameha IV, King Kamehameha V, and King Lunalilo.

On February 3, 1874, Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands (born William Charles Lunalilo) died from tuberculosis without naming an heir. As King Lunalilo had wanted to make Hawaii more democratic, it is thought that he wished to have the people choose their next ruler. The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the people’s representatives, would choose the next monarch from the eligible royal family members. Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV, claimed that King Lunalilo had wanted her to succeed him, but he died before a formal proclamation could be made. She decided to run in the election against David who had lost to King Lunalilo in a similar election in 1873. While the Hawaiian people supported Emma, it was the legislature that elected the new monarch. They favored David who won the election 39 – 6. David reigned as King Kalākaua and became the first of two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaiian Islands from the House of Kalākaua, who were also the last two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

The Sisters of St. Francis and some of the residents of the home Kapiʻolani had built for the children of couples with leprosy; Credit – WIkipedia

As Queen, Kapiʻolani worked to improve the health of the Hawaiian people. She founded the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home in Honolulu, where Hawaiian mothers and their newborn babies could receive care. The Kapiʻolani Maternity Home is still in existence as the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children, part of Hawaii Pacific Health’s network of hospitals. Kapiʻolani frequently visited Kakaʻako Branch Hospital on Oʻahu, which served as a receiving station for leprosy patients from all over the islands, and befriended the Roman Catholic Sisters of Saint Francis who staffed the hospital. On July 21, 1884, Kapiʻolani, along with her sister-in-law and her husband Princess Liliuokalani and John Owen Dominis, visited the Kalaupapa Leper Settlement on Molokaʻi where the now famous Belgian priest Father Damien (now Saint Damien of Molokai) spent sixteen years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony before he contracted leprosy. One of the concerns brought to the attention of Queen Kapiʻolani was the welfare of non-leprous children living on the island born to couples with leprosy. Kapiʻolani promised to build a home for these children. After the royal visit, the patients’ living conditions improved significantly.

Princess Liliuokalani (left) and Queen Kapiʻolani (right) at the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria; Credit – Wikipedia

In April 1887, Queen Kapiʻolani, along with her sister-in-law Princess Liliuokalani and her husband John Owen Dominis, were part of the delegation from the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands sent to attend the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in London. Kapiʻolani and Liliuokalani were granted an audience with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. They attended the special Jubilee service at Westminster Abbey and were seated with other foreign royal guests.

Queen Kapiʻolani kneeling at the coffin of her husband David (King Kalākaua); Credit – Wikipedia

On November 25, 1890, Kapiʻolani’s husband David set sail for California aboard the USS Charleston. The purpose of the trip was uncertain but there were reports that the trip was for his ill health. David arrived in San Francisco, California on December 5, 1890. He suffered a minor stroke in Santa Barbara, California, and was rushed back to San Francisco. Two days before his death, he lapsed into a coma. Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands, born David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua died in San Francisco, California on January 20, 1891, aged 54. He had been under the care of US Navy doctors who listed the cause of his death as nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys.

After the death of her husband and the accession of her sister-in-law Liliuokalani to the throne, Kapiʻolani retired from public life and rarely attended formal social events. Queen Liliuokalani ruled for two years before she was overthrown. In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory.

Tomb of Queen Kapiʻolani and her husband David (King Kalākaua); Credit – Wikipedia

Kapiʻolani lived out the remainder of her life at her private residence Pualeilani in Waikīkī, Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, where the Hyatt Regency Waikiki now stands. During the last two years of her life, Kapiʻolani suffered three strokes. She died, aged sixty-four, at her home on June 24, 1899. After a funeral at the Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu officiated by the Anglican Bishop Alfred Willis, Kapiʻolani was buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna ʻAla. Due to overcrowding, in 1907, the Territory of Hawaii allocated $20,000 for the construction of a separate underground vault for the Kalākaua family. Kapiʻolani’s coffin and the coffins of the Kalākaua family were transferred to the new underground Kalākaua Crypt in a ceremony on June 24, 1910, officiated by her sister-in-law, the former Queen Liliuokalani.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Flantzer, Susan. (2024). Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/kalakaua-king-of-the-hawaiian-islands/
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Kalākaua. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal%C4%81kaua
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024a, January 6). Kapiʻolani. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapi%CA%BBolani
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population declined had to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

• Unofficial Royalty Index: Kingdom of Hawaii Index

********************

Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands; Credit – Wikipedia

Known for his patronage and the restoration of many Hawaiian cultural traditions, Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands from 1874 – 1891 was the first of the two monarchs of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands from the House of Kalākaua. He was born David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua on November 16, 1836, in the grass hut compound of his maternal grandfather at the base of Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii now in the state of Hawaii. Known as David, he was the second eldest of the seven surviving children who survived infancy and the second of the three surviving sons of first cousins Caesar Kaluaiku Kamakaʻehukai Kahana Keola Kapaʻakea and Analea Keohokālole.

David’s family was aliʻi nui, Hawaiian nobility, and were distantly related to the reigning House of Kamehameha, sharing common descent from Keaweʻīkekahialiʻiokamoku, King of the island of Hawaii and the great-grandfather of Kamehameha I, the first King of the Kingdom of Hawaii. His father Caesar Kapaʻakea was a Hawaiian chief who served in the House of Nobles from 1845 until he died in 1866 and on the King’s Privy Council from 1846 – 1866. David’s mother Analea Keohokālole, who was of a higher rank than her husband, was a Hawaiian chiefess and a member of the House of Nobles from 1841 to 1847, and on the King’s Privy Council 1846 to 1847.

David had six siblings who survived infancy:

• James Kaliokalani (1835 – 1852), died in his teens
• Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani (1838 – 1917), the only queen regnant and the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, married John Owen Dominis, no children
• Anna Kaʻiulani (1842 – ?)
• Kaʻiminaʻauao (1845 – 1848), died from measles during an epidemic of measles, whooping cough, and influenza that killed more than 10,000 Native Hawaiians
• Miriam Likelike (1851 – 1887), married Archibald Scott Cleghorn, Scottish businessman, had one daughter Princess Kaʻiulani, the last heir to the throne before the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
• William Pitt Leleiohoku II (1855 – 1877), unmarried, died from rheumatic fever

David, aged fourteen; Credit – Wikipedia

David was declared eligible to be in the line of succession by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III and therefore attended the Chiefs’ Children’s School, later known as Royal School, in Honolulu, which is still in existence as a public elementary school, the Royal Elementary School, the oldest school on the island of Oahu. His classmates included the other children declared eligible to be in the line of succession including his siblings James Kaliokalani and the future Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani, and their thirteen royal relations including the future kings Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, and Lunalilo. Following his formal schooling, David studied law under Charles Coffin Harris, a New England lawyer who became a politician and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii. David would appoint Harris as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii in 1877. David held various military, government, and court positions that provided him with much experience for his future role as King of the Hawaiian Islands.

David’s wife Queen Kapiʻolani; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 19, 1863, David married Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe, the daughter of High Chief Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole of Hilo and High Chiefess Kinoiki Kekaulike of Kauaʻi, the daughter of King Kaumualiʻi, the last king of an independent Kauaʻi. Kapiʻolani was the widow of High Chief Bennett Nāmākēhā, the uncle of King Kamehameha IV’s wife Queen Emma, and served as Queen Emma’s lady-in-waiting, and Prince Albert Edward Kamehameha‘s nurse and caretaker, the only child of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma who died when he was four years old. David and Kapiʻolani’s marriage was childless.

On February 3, 1874, Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands (born William Charles Lunalilo) died from tuberculosis at the age of 39 without naming an heir. As King Lunalilo had wanted to make Hawaii more democratic, it is thought that he wished to have the people choose their next ruler. The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the people’s representatives, would choose the next monarch from the eligible royal family members. Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV, claimed that King Lunalilo had wanted her to succeed him, but he died before a formal proclamation could be made. She decided to run in the election against David who had lost to King Lunalilo in a similar election in 1873. While the Hawaiian people supported Emma, it was the legislature that elected the new monarch. They favored David who won the election 39 – 6. David reigned as King Kalākaua and became the first of two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaiian Islands from the House of Kalākaua, who were also the last two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Upon his accession to the throne, David named his brother William Pitt Leleiohoku II as his heir apparent. When his brother died from rheumatic fever in 1877, David changed the name of his sister Lydia Dominis to Liliuokalani and named her as his heir apparent. She acted as regent during her brother’s absences from the country, and after his death, she became the last monarch of Hawaii.

During David’s reign, the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, a free trade agreement between the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands and the United States greatly benefitted Hawaii. The treaty gave free access to the United States market for sugar and other products grown in the Kingdom of Hawaii. In return, Hawaii guaranteed the United States that it would not cede or lease any of its land to other foreign powers. The treaty led to large investment by Americans in sugarcane plantations in Hawaii. At a later time, an additional clause was added to the treaty allowing the United States exclusive use of land in the area known as Puʻu Loa, which was later used for the American Pearl Harbor naval base. David’s extravagant expenditures and his plans for a Polynesian confederation gave power to the annexationists who were already working toward a United States takeover of Hawaii, which would happen during the reign of David’s sister Queen Liliuokalani. In 1887, David was pressured to sign a new constitution that made the monarchy little more than a figurehead position.

The hula being danced at David’s 49th birthday celebrations; Credit – Wikipedia

During the earlier reigns of Christian converts, dancing the hula was forbidden and punishable by law. Gradually Hawaiian monarchs began to allow the hula but it was David who brought it back in full force. David encouraged Hawaiians with knowledge of the old songs and chants to participate in events and arranged for musicologists to observe and document the old songs and chants. Called the “Merrie Monarch” for his patronage of the arts and the restoration of many Hawaiian cultural traditions during his reign, David is honored by the Merrie Monarch Festival, an annual week-long cultural festival in Hilo, Hawaii, held the week after Easter.

David (in white slacks) aboard the USS Charleston en route to San Francisco; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 25, 1890, David sailed for California aboard the USS Charleston. The purpose of the trip was uncertain but there were reports that the trip was for his ill health. David arrived in San Francisco, California on December 5, 1890. He suffered a minor stroke in Santa Barbara, California, and was rushed back to San Francisco. Two days before his death, he lapsed into a coma. Kalākaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands, born David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Māhinulani Nālaʻiaʻehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua died in San Francisco, California on January 20, 1891, aged 54. He had been under the care of US Navy doctors who listed the cause of his death as nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys.

Funeral Procession; Credit – Wikipedia

News of David’s death did not reach Hawaii until January 29, 1891, when the USS Charleston returned to Hawaii with his remains. His sister Liliuokalani ascended to the throne of the Queen of the Hawaiian Islands the same day. After a state funeral, David was buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna ʻAla on February 15, 1891.

• Wikipedia: Death and state funerals of Kalākaua

Tomb of David and his wife; Credit – Wikipedia

Due to overcrowding, in 1907, the Territory of Hawaii allocated $20,000 for the construction of a separate underground vault for the Kalākaua family. David’s coffin and the coffins of the Kalākaua family were transferred to the new underground Kalākaua Crypt in a ceremony on June 24, 1910, officiated by his sister, the former Queen Liliuokalani.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Kalākaua. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal%C4%81kaua
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

The Hawaiian Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean, were originally divided into several independent chiefdoms. The Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great of the independent island of Hawaii, conquered the independent islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, and unified them under one government and ruled as Kamehameha I, King of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1810, the whole Hawaiian archipelago became unified when Kauai and Niihau voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Hawaii. Two major dynastic families ruled the kingdom: the House of Kamehameha and the House of Kalākaua.

In 1778, British explorer James Cook visited the islands. This led to increased trade and the introduction of new technologies and ideas. In the mid-19th century, American influence in Hawaii dramatically increased when American merchants, missionaries, and settlers arrived on the islands. Protestant missionaries converted most of the native people to Christianity. Merchants set up sugar plantations and the United States Navy established a base at Pearl Harbor. The newcomers brought diseases that were new to the indigenous people including influenza, measles, smallpox, syphilis, tuberculosis, and whooping cough. At the time of James Cook’s arrival in 1778, the indigenous Hawaiian population is estimated to have been between 250,000 and 800,000. By 1890, the indigenous Hawaiian population declined had to less than 40,000.

In 1893, a group of local businessmen and politicians composed of six non-native Hawaiian Kingdom subjects, five American nationals, one British national, and one German national overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani, her cabinet, and her marshal, and took over the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This led to the 1898 annexation of Hawaii as a United States territory. On August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the United States.

In 1993, one hundred years after the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown, the United States Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed the Apology Resolution which “acknowledges that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum”. As a result, the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, a grassroots political and cultural campaign to reestablish an autonomous or independent nation or kingdom in Hawaii, was established along with ongoing efforts to redress the indigenous Hawaiian population.

• Unofficial Royalty Index: Kingdom of Hawaii Index

********************

Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands; Credit – Wikipedia

Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands reigned for a little more than a year, from January 8, 1873, until his death on February 3, 1874. Born William Charles Lunalilo (the name William will be used in this article) on January 31, 1835, at the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu, Oahu, Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, now in the state of Hawaii, he was the only surviving child of the two children, both sons, of High Chief Charles Kanaʻina and Chiefess Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi. He was given the name William in honor of King William IV of the United Kingdom. William’s elder brother Davida died in early childhood.

   
William’s parents; Credit – Wikipedia

William’s father Charles Kanaʻina, a great-great-grandson of King Kamehameha I, was an aliʻi, a hereditary noble of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and served on both the Privy Council and the House of Nobles. His mother Miriam Auhea Kekāuluohi was one of the many wives and also a niece of King Kamehameha I. She had also married King Kamehameha II before he converted to Christianity and gave up all but one wife.

Nicknamed Prince Bill, William was declared eligible to be in the line of succession by the royal decree of King Kamehameha III. He attended the Chiefs’ Children’s School, later known as Royal School, in Honolulu, which is still in existence as a public elementary school, the Royal Elementary School, the oldest school on the island of Oahu. William learned both Hawaiian and English. He loved English literature, especially the soliloquies from the plays of William Shakespeare. He was being prepared to assume the Governorship of the island of Oahu.

William as a teenager, circa 1850 – 1852; Credit – Wikipedia

Before 1860, the Kingdom of Hawaii used the British “God Save the King” as its national anthem. In 1860, King Kamehameha IV sponsored a contest for a new national anthem. He wanted a song with Hawaiian lyrics set to the tune of the British anthem. William wrote the winning entry “E Ola Ke Aliʻi Ke Akua” and donated his monetary winnings to the Queen’s Hospital founded by King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma in Honolulu. It remained the national anthem until it was replaced by Queen Liliʻuokalani’s composition “He Mele Lāhui Hawaiʻi”. See the Hawaiian and English lyrics at Wikipedia: E Ola Ke Aliʻi Ke Akua.

William never married. He was betrothed to marry his cousin Princess Victoria Kamāmalu but her brothers King Kamehameha IV and King Kamehameha V refused to allow her to marry William because their children would outrank the House of Kamehameha in the mana, the supernatural force that permeates the universe. William briefly courted Liliʻuokalani, the future Queen Regnant of Hawaii, but she broke off their relationship on the advice of King Kamehameha IV. During William’s reign as king, it was proposed that he marry Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV, but this came to naught due to Queen Emma’s devotion to her late husband.

King Kamehameha V, known by his given name Lot, never married. He named his sister Princess Victoria Kamāmalu as his heir but she died in 1866 and Lot never named another successor. As he lay dying on December 11, 1872, his forty-second birthday, he offered the throne to his cousin Bernice Pauahi Bishop but she refused, and he died an hour later without naming his successor. Because of this, the Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom chose the next monarch from the eligible royal family members. Lot’s cousin William Charles Lunalilo, a Kamehameha by birth from his mother, became the first elected King of the Hawaiian Kingdom and reigned as Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands.

Painting of King Lunalilo (William) by Danish painter Eiler Jurgensen, currently hangs at Iolani Palace. Purchased by the Kingdom of Hawaii government in 1882 from the estate of Charles Kana’ina, William’s father; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 9, 1873, William’s investiture ceremony was held at the Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu, then the national church of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the church of the Hawaiian royal family, popularly known as Hawaii’s Westminster Abbey. Because William’s popularity was so great, and because he became king through a democratic process, he became known as “The People’s King”. William wanted to make the Hawaiian government more democratic and to improve the Hawaiian economy. He had many ideas and plans but nothing was accomplished due to his short reign.

Lunalilo Mausoleum on the grounds of Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu, Hawaii; Credit – Wikipedia

William had suffered from tuberculosis since childhood and was an alcoholic which further exacerbated his health. On February 3, 1874, he died from tuberculosis at the age of 39, at Haimoeipo, his private residence in Honolulu. On his deathbed, William requested to be buried on the grounds of the Kawaiahaʻo Church, saying he wanted to be “entombed among my people, rather than the kings and chiefs” at the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii in Honolulu. On November 23, 1875, his coffin was taken from the Royal Mausoleum, where it had rested temporarily awaiting the completion of the Lunalilo Mausoleum, to the completed tomb on the grounds of Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu.

Interior of Lunalilo Mausoleum with William’s tomb in the center and the tomb of his father Charles Kanaʻina on the right; Credit – Wikipedia

Like his predecessor, William died without naming an heir. As William had wanted to make Hawaii more democratic, it is thought that he wished to have the people choose their next ruler. The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the people’s representatives, would choose the next monarch from the eligible royal family members. Queen Emma, the widow of King Kamehameha IV, claimed that William had wanted her to succeed him, but he died before a formal proclamation could be made. She decided to run in the election against David Kalākaua who had lost to William in a similar election in 1873. While the Hawaiian people supported Emma, it was the legislature that elected the new monarch. They favored David Kalākaua, who won the election 39 – 6 and became the first of two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaiian Islands from the House of Kalākaua, who were the last two monarchs of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Works Cited

• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024c, February 1). Charles Kanaʻina. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kana%CA%BBina
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, December 29). Kekāuluohi. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kek%C4%81uluohi
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Lunalilo. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunalilo
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023f, December 28). Lunalilo Mausoleum. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunalilo_Mausoleum
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mausoleum_(Mauna_%CA%BBAla)
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Hawaiian Kingdom. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom