soCal girl
Royal Highness
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2004
- Messages
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- City
- Irvine
- Country
- United States
I just came back from Hawai'i and I finally visited Iolani Palace! Now I know that every culture is different and Hawai'i is tiny but the palace isn't so much a palace but a nice big house (the pictures on the first page of this thread make it seem a lot bigger). It pales in comparison to it's European counterparts. I had to wear these booties to help preserve the palace floors but it was really interesting to finally go inside. The crystal panes in the front doors were supposed to be Hawaiian ladies but the people who created them were from California and did not know what Hawaiians looked like so they used their imagination: Greek goddesses (it was actually sad and funny at the same time looking at these window panes that were supposed to be exotic beauties).
Also on display is Queen Liliuokalani's quilt which she made during her days as a prisoner. It's a beautiful quilt which the Queen gave to a family friend. A couple years back the descendants of this family donated the quilt so that it would have some purpose besides being locked up inside a safe.
This is my favorite story the tour guide told my family. Queen Liliuokalani was invited to Queen Victoria's (Silver or Golden Jubilee, can't remember) and the stylist back in the day told the Queen and the Princess that they couldn't compete with Western royalty in Western designs. So this stylist suggested a peacock dress. I guess during those days people kept peacocks as pets so servants went around telling people that peacocks were bad luck to get the peacocks for the dress. The peacocks were plucked and a dress was made that weighed 35 pounds! I guess she really did stand out in London .
I guess this is the official website for Iolani Palace: http://www.iolanipalace.org/index.html
The Hawaiian monarchy is actually a really sad story. It didn't last very long and had a depressing ending.
Also on display is Queen Liliuokalani's quilt which she made during her days as a prisoner. It's a beautiful quilt which the Queen gave to a family friend. A couple years back the descendants of this family donated the quilt so that it would have some purpose besides being locked up inside a safe.
This is my favorite story the tour guide told my family. Queen Liliuokalani was invited to Queen Victoria's (Silver or Golden Jubilee, can't remember) and the stylist back in the day told the Queen and the Princess that they couldn't compete with Western royalty in Western designs. So this stylist suggested a peacock dress. I guess during those days people kept peacocks as pets so servants went around telling people that peacocks were bad luck to get the peacocks for the dress. The peacocks were plucked and a dress was made that weighed 35 pounds! I guess she really did stand out in London .
I guess this is the official website for Iolani Palace: http://www.iolanipalace.org/index.html
The Hawaiian monarchy is actually a really sad story. It didn't last very long and had a depressing ending.
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