Kapiʻolani
Kapiʻolani (December 31, 1834 – June 24, 1899) was the queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi as the consort of Mōʻī (king) Kalākaua, who reigned[3] from 1874 to his death in 1891,[4] when she became known as the Dowager Queen Kapiʻolani. Deeply interested in the health and welfare of Native Hawaiians, Kapiʻolani established the Kapiʻolani Home for Girls, for the education of the daughters of residents of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement, and the Kapiʻolani Maternity Home, where Hawaiian mothers and newborns could receive care.
For the chiefess (1781–1841), see Kapiʻolani (chiefess).Kapiʻolani
February 12, 1874 – January 20, 1891
February 12, 1883, ʻIolani Palace
December 31, 1834
Hilo, Hawaiian Kingdom
June 24, 1899 (aged 64)
Waikīkī, Territory of Hawaii
Early life and family[edit]
Kapiʻolani was born December 31, 1834, in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island to 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 before its cession to Kamehameha the Great.[5] Her two younger sisters were Kapoʻoloku Poʻomaikelani (1839–1895), who married Hiram Kahanawai, and Kinoiki Kekaulike (1843–1884), who married David Kahalepouli Piʻikoi.[6]
Her full name was Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe.[7][a] Her namesake was her great-aunt High Chiefess Kapiʻolani, who plucked the ʻōhelo berries and openly defied the goddess Pele as a dramatic demonstration of her new faith in Christianity.[8][9] Kapiʻolani is composed of three words (ka piʻo lani) and literally means "the arch [of] heaven (rainbows signified the presence of royalty)".[10] Her secondary name, Napelakapuokakaʻe, translates to "the sacred flesh of Kakae".[11]
She was raised in Hilo until the age of eight when she was sent to be raised in the district of Kona, on the western side of the island of Hawaiʻi. She went to Honolulu on Oʻahu when she was sixteen and came under the guardianship of King Kamehameha III.[12]
Kapiʻolani was brought up to read and write in the Hawaiian language. Although she learned to understand a few English words and phrases, like many Native Hawaiians she never learned to speak it fluently and required a Hawaiian translator when communicating with English speakers.[13][14] Kapiʻolani became a member of the Anglican Church of Hawaiʻi after it was established in 1862.[15][16][17]
Queen of Hawaiʻi[edit]
Kapiʻolani was remarried on December 19, 1863, to David Kalākaua in a quiet ceremony conducted by an Anglican minister. Their wedding was heavily criticized since it fell during the time of mourning for King Kamehameha IV.[15][8]
Her second husband was an aspiring high chief and politician who served in the House of Nobles, the Privy Council of State and held many other court and government posts during the reigns of Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V and Lunalilo.[28][29] Although unsuccessful in his attempt for the throne in 1873, Kalākaua defeated Queen Dowager Emma to succeed Lunalilo as the monarch of Hawaiʻi on February 12, 1874.[30] Kapiʻolani became queen consort of Hawaii upon the accession of her husband to the Hawaiian throne.[31]
One of the couple's first acts was to conduct a royal progress of the Hawaiian Islands. From March to May 1874, they toured the main Hawaiian Islands of Kauaʻi, Maui, Hawaiʻi Island, Molokaʻi and Oʻahu. The royal pair were enthusiastically received by the people.[32][33]
Their marriage remained childless.[34] A clinical analysis into the cause of Kalākaua's death led to speculation that the king may have been infertile since Kapiʻolani had a miscarried pregnancy with her previous marriage.[21] Thus, she and her sister Poʻomaikelani adopted, in the tradition of hānai, their sister Kekaulike's three sons. Kapiʻolani took David Kawānanakoa and Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and Poʻomaikelani adopted Edward Abnel Keliʻiahonui.[35] In 1883, Kalākaua made Kapiʻolani's nephews princes of Hawaiʻi with the style of Highness in honor of his coronation.[36][37] After the death of Kekaulike in 1884, Kalākaua and Kapiʻolani assumed legal guardianship over all three boys.[38]
Widowhood, death and funeral[edit]
In declining health, Kalākaua traveled to California aboard the USS Charleston on November 25, 1890.[62] While traveling, the king suffered a stroke in Santa Barbara and was rushed back to San Francisco. He died two days later on January 20.[63][64] The news of Kalākaua's death did not reach Hawaiʻi until January 29 when the Charleston returned to Honolulu with the king's remains.[63][65] In Kalākaua's will drafted in 1888, he left all his private property to Kapiʻolani. A proposed line of succession in the will also placed Kapiʻolani third-in-line to the throne after Liliʻuokalani and their niece Princess Kaʻiulani with a provision that Kapiʻolani would serve as a regent in the case that Kaʻiulani ascended before reaching the age of majority.[66][67]
After the death of her husband and the accession of her sister-in-law Liliʻuokalani to the throne, Queen Dowager Kapiʻolani retired from public life and seldom attended formal social events. Liliʻuokalani ruled for two years before she was overthrown, on January 17, 1893. After a brief transition under the Provisional Government, the oligarchical Republic of Hawaiʻi was established on July 4, 1894, with Sanford B. Dole as president. During this period, the de facto government, which was composed largely of residents of American and European ancestry, sought to annex the islands to the United States against the wishes of the Native Hawaiians who wanted to remain an independent nation ruled by the monarchy.[68][69]
Kapiʻolani lived out the remainder of her life at her private residence Pualeilani in Waikīkī where the Hyatt Regency Waikiki now stands. Prior to her final illness, she signed over her vast landholdings worth over $250,000 to her nephews Prince Kawānanakoa and Prince Kūhiō. Her health began to fail two years before her death, and she suffered three strokes over this period. During her last days, she was in a comatose state and died on June 24, 1899, at age sixty-four.[31]
Hawaii was annexed to the United States under the Newlands Resolution, a joint resolution of Congress, on August 12, 1898, but the territorial government was not formally established until April 30, 1900. Thus, the Republic of Hawaii's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernest Augustus Mott-Smith announced the royal funeral to the foreign consular agents in Honolulu. Her body lay in state at Kawaiahaʻo Church for public viewing and her funerary services were performed by the Anglican Bishop Alfred Willis at 2:00 pm on July 2. After the service, a state funeral procession brought her remains for burial at the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii at Mauna ʻAla. Included among the members of Hawaiian society at her funeral procession were the former royal family: her nephews Prince Kawānanakoa and Prince Kūhiō, her brother-in-law Archibald Scott Cleghorn and her sister-in-law Liliʻuokalani. Officials of the Republic of Hawaii including Sanford B. Dole (still referred to as president) and members of the United States Army and Navy also attended the procession.[31][2] She was interred in the mausoleum joining her husband and the rest of the House of Kalākaua.[2][70] In a ceremony officiated by Liliʻuokalani on June 24, 1910, her remains, and those of her husband's family, were transferred for a final time to the underground Kalākaua Crypt after the main mausoleum building had been converted into a chapel.[71]
Legacy[edit]
Her medical legacy Kapiʻolani Maternity Home survives today as the Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children. Kapiʻolani Park in Waikīkī was named after the Queen by her husband Kalākaua. She is also the namesake of Kapiʻolani Boulevard, Kapiʻolani Community College and numerous businesses in Honolulu.[31] One of her noted contributions to Hawaiian music was a love song she composed for her husband, "Ka Ipo Lei Manu". Kalākaua died in San Francisco before he could hear the song from his queen.[72]
A portrait of Queen Kapiʻolani painted in August 1884 by Charles Furneaux, hangs at ʻIolani Palace.[73]