The day Princess Ka`iulani of Hawai`i was born, bells rang joyously and cannons fired salutes. At long last, there was an heir to the throne. The day she died, at the age of only 23, the herd of over fifty peacocks at her `Ainahau home in Waikiki shrieked and groaned all night in sorrowful longing -- and the people of her lands heard them and joined in the grieving. The princess was loved and revered by all.

The Princess’ aunt, Queen Lili’uokalani, the last reigning Queen of Hawai`i, loved Hawai’i and her people. Likewise they loved her. A faithful scholar and extraordinary musician and composer, she wrote over 150 songs including her most famous piece, “Aloha `Oe.”

The rain fell lightly on Lili’uokalani’s body as it was taken from Washington Place to the Throne Room at `Iolani Palace on November 11, 1917. Upon the procession’s arrival at `Iolani Palace, there was a sudden roll of thunder—a last h`ailona (omen) for the last Queen. Queen Lili`uokalani had died at the age of 79.

Both Princess Ka`iulani and Queen Lili`uokalani were the last great women of the Hawaiian monarchy. They both lived through the overthrow with intelligent grace, attending social banquets and teas and other functions in their attempt to show the world the Hawaiian people were gentle, kind, peaceful, and loving.

A beautiful story of Hawai’i’s last princess is best read in Nancy Webb and Jean Francis Webbs’ book, Ka`iulani, Crown Princess of Hawai’i, and in many of the works of her friend, Robert Louis Stevenson:

Forth from her land to mine she goes,
The Island maid, the Island rose;
Light of heart and bright of face:
The daughter of a double race.

Her islands here, in Southern sun,
Shall mourn their Ka’iulani gone,
And I, in her dear banyan shade,
Look vainly for my little maid.

But our Scots islands far away
Shall glitter with unwonted day,
And cast for once their tempests by
To smile in Ka’iulani's eye.

The Queen never faltered in her commitment to the people of Hawai’i. Her legacy is perpetuated today through the Queen Lili`uokalani Children’s Center and the Queen Lili`uokalani Trust.

You can watch a video on the Queen’s legacy: www.onipaa.org/jsp/page.jsp?pagetype=video

When I visit `Iolani Palace in Honolulu, I am struck, every time, remembering that Lili`uokalani was imprisoned in her own palace when America deposed her in 1895. There is a movie to watch, for free, in the barracks of the palace. It plays every 15 minutes or so and will make you cry.

But we are here now, more civilized I suppose than we were then. Because today the Palace is held in sacred regard of the monarchy. It had lost its grandeur through neglect after the overthrow. But now you can tour this historic site thanks to the good people of Hawai’i, who began restoration in the 1970s. This palace is the only official state residence of Hawaiian royalty in the United States. You can learn more at www.iolanipalace.org.

You can also tour Washington Place, Queen Lili`uokalani’s home, where she lived out her life after the overthrow. This home is distinguished by its lanais and boasts the queen’s koa-wood piano as well as a collection of her Victorian furnishings. Tours are Monday through Friday and admission is free. 320 Beretania Street, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813, 808.586.0248

`Ainahau, which means, “cool land” was the home of Princess Ka`iulani. Her father Archibald Scott Cleghorn and her mother Princess Likelike had created a botanical estate where a stream flowed through and emptied into the ocean. Princess Likelike wrote about `Ainahau:
It is the perfume and the lovely
Fragrance of roses that sweetens
The leaf buds of the flowering plants
The peacocks
And the yellow feathered birds
Are the adornments of my home

Beautiful is my home
`Ainahau so regal
Where the fronds
Of the coco palms sway
The beautiful grove
The fragrance of flowers
At my home, my home so regal

It is the gentle breeze
From the sea
That brings the sweet
Fragrance of lïpoa
Mingling love with the fragrance
Of my home, my home
My home so regal

After his wife, Princess Likelike and his daughter Princess Ka`iulani had died, Archibald Cleghorn proposed to give the estate to the city of Honolulu to keep it as a reminder of the Great Women Not Forgotten.

Sadly, the city felt it was too expensive to keep up and it was sold to developers. Today it is the Starwood Resort, called the Princess Ka`iulani Hotel.


Sources:
www.uic.edu/depts/owa/history/liliuokalani.html

www.electricscotland.com/history/women/wh36.htm

www.state.hi.us/dhhl/

www.hawaiiankingdom.org/

www.hawaii-nation.org/soa.html