Royal Family of Hawai'i


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I was just disgusted to find out that Queen Emma and her family, on a transAmerican trip via train were so shabbily treated by the Americans due to the color of their skin.

Aloha. I think you mean Prince Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV), Queen Emma's husband. Queen Emma was lucky enough to escape prejudice since she was a fourth white herself. The story was that Alexander Liholiho was accompany Gerrit P. Judd and his brother Lot Kapuaiwa to Europe and the United States on a diplomatic tour. He was told to get off the train by Americans who thought he was a slave. Not only that but in one incident a butler refused to served him or his brother because of their skin color. That would be the main reason Kamehameha IV was so anti-American and pro-British. Racisim is something the Hawaiian royals faced a lot from white people. Prince Jonah Kuhio onced punched a European count because he made fun of his race. During the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the King of Saxony and the King of the Belgians (man behind the whole Belgian Congo thing) refused to accompany Liliuokalani to the Jubilee supper because of her skin color! That was the fear with most Hawaiians in the 1890s because they believed if they were annexed to the US they would lose all their rights like the African-Americans because of their skin color.

PS: Anybody interested in Hawaiian history should check my Wikipedia page here is the link User:KAVEBEAR - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Mahalo!
 
As I've implied above, it was made worse by the fact they were not even spared the prejudice in their own kingdom. Hawaii did not become an integral part of the US until statehood in 1959, though.

Through time you could always find good monarchs and bad monarchs, and Leopold II of Belgium fell into the latter. In fact, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria described Leopold as a "thoroughly bad man", indicating what other royals thought of him.
 
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...During the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, the King of Saxony and the King of the Belgians (man behind the whole Belgian Congo thing) refused to accompany Liliuokalani to the Jubilee supper because of her skin color!
The Golden Jubilee was in 1887; here's a piece from earlier on, the 1881 Season in London...

"During the London season the Prince of Wales amused society by paying extraordinary attentions to King Kalakaua of Hawaii... At a party given by Lady Spencer on 13 July, the Prince insisted that the King of Hawaii should be accorded precedence over the German Crown Prince [later Kaiser Wilhelm II], who protested without avail. The Crown Prince was silenced by his brother-in-law's robust retort: 'Either the brute is a King, or he's a common or garden ******; and if the latter, what's he doing here?'

The Prince of Wales took the King to a Lord Mayor's banquet at the Mansion House and to a Trinity House banquet four days later. He found him amiable and very interesting, and gave him a luncheon at Marlborough House. He made Christopher Sykes, Lord Charles Beresford and other friends give parties in Kalakaua's honour, and at the Marlborough House Ball on 22 July, which ended the London season, he again relegated his German brother-in-law to second place by asking King Kalakaua to open the royal quadrille with the Princess of Wales."

-> "King Edward the Seventh, the Most Edwardian of Them All" by Philip Magnus, paperback pp217-218.
 
I remember now. The incident with Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole and racism was when he was traveling in Europe with his wife after the overthrown of the Kingdom of Hawaii. It was in Geneva when a German count spoke out loudly about his dark skin color. Kuhio knocked out the count and a friend of the count tried challenging Kuhio to a duel, but Kuhio just fought his way out of the incident. BTW although Hawaii didn't become a state until 1950 it was a part of the US since 1898.
 
I was just disgusted to find out that Queen Emma and her family, on a transAmerican trip via train were so shabbily treated by the Americans due to the color of their skin.

It is truly awful.
 
84-year-old Princess Abigail Kawananakoa is a descendant of the royal family that ruled the former nation of Hawaii more than a century ago, presiding from graceful Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu.
Princess Abigail is the great grand-niece of Queen Kapiolani, who was married to the last King of Hawaii, David Kalakaua.
For decades Princess Abigail seeks for custom-made furniture, oil paintings and other treasures disappeared from Iolani palace after January 1893, when a small band of businessmen overthrew the monarchy. - Full article
 
I'm jealous, I've always wanted to visit the Iolani Palace! I'm surprised at the juxtaposition between the grand exterior which looks so large/imposing and how small you said the bedrooms are!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6rYRw1bQHQ
 
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It is truly awful.

History shows old monarchies being overthrown or otherwise being absorbed by others- e.g. Georgia by Russia, Hanover by Prussia, Two Sicilies et al by Sardinia-Piedmont, Korea and Ryukyu by Japan... the overthrow in Hawaii would be among those, which remains a subject of historical debate to this day.

At least African monarchies, though not sovereign, have survived colonialism and independence.
 
You are absolutely right, David,
And this is very sad to know that the traditional monarchies in South Africa (6 of 13) which have survived are abolished by SAR president nowadays.
Is it possible to restore the Hawaiian monarchy via plebiscite?
 
You are absolutely right, David,
And this is very sad to know that the traditional monarchies in South Africa (6 of 13) which have survived are abolished by SAR president nowadays.

Those six were Apartheid creations without historical legitimacy.

Is it possible to restore the Hawaiian monarchy via plebiscite?

It would not be possible to make the State of Hawaii one as it would be unconstitutional. If the indigenous Hawaiians can attain recognition as a native people the same way as Native Americans have, maybe.
 
If Hawaii was ever restored as a monarchy. There would be many candidates to the throne. The only rightful heirs are the Laanuis or the Kawananakoas as the highest ranking chiefs in the land and the closest to connection to the House of Kamehamhea and Kalakaua. There are many false pretenders like Akahi Nui (claimed descendant of Kamehameha I and Liliuokalani's sister) and Mahealani Kahau (claimed descendant of Hawaii's last king who was elected "head of state").
 
I disagree about the "true heirs" of Hawaii, Kavebear. Hawai'i didn't work like that.

Dave V. Good point about the monarchies. I do believe it was best for Maui to concede to Hawai'i in the unification process, given what they knew was about to happen. The royalty of Mau'i and Oahu and Kauai (and probably the outlying islands) were treated well (as kinds of dukes) under the rule of the Big Island.
 
It's my own opinion really. But when you say "Hawai'i didn't work like that." You got to remember Hawaii did work like that for thousands of years before the missionaries came. If your ancestors were ali'i you are an ali'i, if your family ruled you got the power; it was always the highest ranking chief in the land that ruled. But check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNLxcXf5yDo&feature=related.

Only the Mauian and Hawaiian chiefs actually benefited from Kamehameha's conquest really. The Oahuan chiefs had been virtually exterminated already in the war between King Kahahana of Oahu and King Kahekili of Maui in the 1780s and the Waipio conspiracy that followed. The Kauaian chiefs were removed from power after Prince Humehume's rebellion in 1824 and replaced by chiefs from the Big Island and Maui.

PS: Check this video out. One of the few video about Hawaiian history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq257emrpVg

and this one that is really false but the music and pictures are cool
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1tQmbiDino
 
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What I meant was this:

the Hawaiian Islands were settled about 1000 years (not thousands of years) before the coming of Europeans (circa 800 A.D.).

They did not follow Salic law, nor did they have a strictly lineal ali'i.

Families of ali'i could be raised to rule, or they could fall. If people failed to call one ali'i, one was not ali'i. If people were called ali'i nui, then they were. Kahunas and Kapunas (to use the simplest forms of the words) were usually of ali'i family, and were a sort of lesser ali'i (but could be ali'i nui as well, if people called them that).

That's what I meant. It didn't work like British royalty or French royalty or any of the descendant cultures of Proto-European monarchy.

It was Polynesian in nature and not nearly as male-dominated.

Thanks for posting the video (I've seen it before but it was good to see it again).

But long before Kamehameha I, Hawai'i had practices that were not entirely uniform across all its islands, but tended towards bilineality and fluidity. I believe the genes tell that story, but so does the genealogical chant of Kamehameha I, himself.

I disagree that all descendants of ali'i were automatically ali'i (especially if they were kapu breakers). But, there was a tendency to extend royal protocol to the children of ali'i, yes (and Kamehameha and his Queen were not the first or only to relax kapus).

For example, Queen Ka'ahumana's own father was a "fugitive noble" (whose days as an ali'i were probably at an end, as his life also might have been) and, like many people who traveled from island to island, a distant cousin of the King.

But there not that many Hawaiians and the ali'i of all the islands claimed common descent (and we know, anthropologically, that all Hawaiians are closely related to begin with).

The ancestor that both the Queen and King shared was not a male ancestor, which was my main point - but that the ali'i of Hawaii also or often (or sometimes only) counted on the female line.

Very different from the later views, adopted from Europe (even though Hawai'i easily embraced Queens, as it was our custom to have powerful Queens).

Once the missionaries arrived, many refused to recognize the Queens as being in the main line of ali'i (Queen Ka'ahumana's father may have been ali'i by marriage or he may have been elevated from kapuna, I have heard and read various versions of the story).

Ka'ahumana's kidnapping of the King of Kauai (and his forced marriage to her own person) was almost certainly a remnant of Hawaiian - not European - custom.

So, as I was trying to say (and was perhaps not clear), Hawaiian monarchy/ali'i worked differently than Salic/British/European monarchy.

The chiefs of Oahu and Maui were certainly defeated, but no one threw all their babies, nieces and nephews off battlements, they simply relinquished their prominent positions, people obeyed the ali'i of Hawai'i instead - but they continued to exist as families, as they still do today.
 
You're right. That's the problem with Hawaiian history most people, including me, try to mic Western royal attributes to them. The chiefs of Oahu did meet a gruesome end in the 1780s (used exterminate to make a point). According to myth King Kahekili made a house out of all the bones of the slain chiefs of Oahu. Keeaumoku Pāpaiahiahi was a royal himself being the grandson of Queen Kalanikauleleiaiwi of Hawaii. He was only a "fugitive noble" from the same Kahekili I mentioned above because the story goes that Keeaumoku married Namahana, the widow queen of Kamehamehanui Ailuau and Kahekili's half-sister. Kahekili had wanted to marry her but Keeaumoku beat him to it so he was angry. Keeaumoku fled to Hana and then he joined Kamehameha I's force. I love discussing this.
 
After princess kaiulani are there other hawaiian royals existing today? Why can't they at least be a constitutional monarchy.
 
After princess kaiulani are there other hawaiian royals existing today?
Yes, they do. Read this thread from the very beginning, if you please, to find all info you are asking for.
Why can't they at least be a constitutional monarchy.
Because of the Constitution of the United States.
I wonder, if you really are from US.:whistling:
 
After princess kaiulani are there other hawaiian royals existing today? Why can't they at least be a constitutional monarchy.

Giving up Hawaii is a part of the United States, and you, as you stated, are from the United States, your question seems a little weird...
 
After princess kaiulani are there other hawaiian royals existing today?

The Kawananakoa family and the Wilcox Laanui family are the only one that really have the closest tie to any of the past kings of Hawaii genealogically. There are many other people who descends from other kings and chiefs of pre-unification Hawaii.

Why can't they at least be a constitutional monarchy.
Hawaii is a state in the US where monarchy is outlawed. Being an American you should probably know that. And Hawaii was a constitutional monarchy anyway when it was in existance and that didn't prevented its overthrown.

PS: Check out this video Homes of Hawaiian Royalty on Vimeo and Category:Royal residences in Hawaii - Wikimedia Commons about Hawaii's royal residences and palaces. :)
 
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What happened to princess kaiulani after the monarchy was abolished?and why did the people of Hawaii love her so much
 
What happened to princess kaiulani after the monarchy was abolished?and why did the people of Hawaii love her so much

Well she went to speak to President Cleveland at Washington DC for his help restoring the monarchy, although it didn't succeed. She finished her education in England and return to Hawaii in 1897. She became a private citizen of the Republic of Hawaii and the United States. She was engaged to Prince David Kawananakoa in February 3, 1898. (The Kaiulani Movie never mention her relation with Koa and instead fantasizes a make believe romance between her and Clives Davies). But her health soon deterioated due to the lost of purpose in her existence and the many deaths of her love ones; her sister Annie Cleghorn died, her childhood friend Robert Louis Stevenson dies, and her guardian in England Theo Davies dies. She attend her friends Eva Parker's wedding in 1898 on the Big Island of Hawaii and she caught a fever after riding in the rain. She never overcome the sickness and died months later at Ainahau, her Waikiki estate. She simply gave up the will to live, and as her father Archibald said since Hawaii was no more it was fitting for Kaiulani to go as well. Her last words were either a call out for her mother, her "Papa" or for Koa.

People of Hawaii love Kaiulani because she was an ali'i or royalty. Remember three generation before Kaiulani, her ancestors were worshipped as gods by the Hawaiian people. I have never heard a single Hawaiian person speak negatively about their ali's. But Kaiulani was also a great person. She was such a crucial figure of the Kingdom of Hawaii, it's last Crown Princess and the vision of what might have been had things turn out differently.
 
Photos of Marchessa Kapiolani Marignoli

Does anyone have pictures of Princess Esther or her children? Apparently she married an Italian Marchese; making her children of both royal Hawaiian and noble European ancestry.

Here are some photos of her and her son Ducio.

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Gov. Ben and Vicky Cayetano, Marquesa Kapiolani Marignoli and her nephew David Kawananakoa, and Japan's Imperial Prince Norihito Takamodo and Princess Hisako during a Hawaii-Japan tea ceremony.

http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/2394/
(seated, from left) Marchessa Kapiolani Marignoli, Rosi Rafael, Darrel Kloninger, Claire Strasser and Joan Bickson (standing) Evalani Castro Verde, Kevin Sumida, Luana Pang Ching, Hans Strasser and Judy Fong

http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/11109/
Kapiolani Marignoli, Gina Maria Caruso and Indru Watumull

http://www.midweek.com/content/paina/image_full/4666/
Iolani Palace Garden Party: Jackie Guild, Walter Guild, Lois Nottage, Rab Guild, Marchesa Kapiolani Marignoli, Ben Cassidy, Bubba Walker, Tita Stack, Peter Nottage and

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La principessa Kapiolani, Marchesa Marignoli con la Principessa Claudia Ruffo di Calabria e il Marchese Nicolò Cavalcanti

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Il Matchese Nicolò Cavalcanti che parla con Duccio Marignoli, con il Principe Alliata


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(Nella foto Nicoletta Ercoli, Giorgio Ferrara e Duccio Marignoli)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3a_njM3zhQ
Marchessa Kapiolani Marignoli and Princess Kapiolani Kawananakoa is in the croud.
 
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The story of the Hawaiian Monarchy, although it be a tragic one, has always interested me since I discovered it. I was 16 years old when I first found out that Hawaii eve nhad a monarchy in the past. I picked up a book while waiting on my parents in the library. The book was a part of the Royal Diary series that is similar to the Dear America Series. The book was entitles Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii 1889. The book, although a preteen book, was very interesting, It was set up like a diary, with young Princess Victoria Kaiulani being the writer. Of course some of the details in the book were contrived by the author, but it really got me interested in the lost story of the lost Kingdom of Hawaii and it's last Princess. Me, being a royal enthusiast since I was a toddler (my name, which is Irish, even means descendant of nobility) jumped all over the chance to learn about her and the kingdom of Hawaii. I also read the other books in the series such as the one on Queen (or Princess during the time of the book) Victoria and Elizabeth I and her sister Mary. I also read the "diaries" of the Imperial Archduchess Anastasia and the rock-star story of Marie Antoinette. Awesome series that I suggest any royal enthusiast/ fanatic, no matter what gender or age you are, to read.
 
Royal Wedding buzz stirs memories of Hawaii royal history | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton may be one of the biggest celebrations of the century - but 155-years ago Hawaii had its own royal wedding.The really biggest royal wedding that there was, was the wedding King Kamehameha IV and Emma which took place in June of 1856.
The couple exchanged vows at KawaiahaoChurch. A procession followed with men carrying Kahili - to signify this was a wedding of royalty.
Similar to how the nobility of
Europe use coats of arms.
To mark the occasion - Queen Victoria of Great Britain sent Emma a veil, which she wore on her wedding day. And the bride most likely was dressed in a white wedding dress.
 
Royal Wedding buzz stirs memories of Hawaii royal history | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton may be one of the biggest celebrations of the century - but 155-years ago Hawaii had its own royal wedding.The really biggest royal wedding that there was, was the wedding King Kamehameha IV and Emma which took place in June of 1856.
The couple exchanged vows at KawaiahaoChurch. A procession followed with men carrying Kahili - to signify this was a wedding of royalty.
Similar to how the nobility of Europe use coats of arms.
To mark the occasion - Queen Victoria of Great Britain sent Emma a veil, which she wore on her wedding day. And the bride most likely was dressed in a white wedding dress.

The Chinese immigrants threw a grand ball in honor of the newly wedded couple. The Chinese didn't believe in male interaction with female, other than their wives, not even touching; it must have been extremely tough for them to learn to ballroom dance and learn Western ettiquettes.

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Also check this Queen Emma | Hawaiian Style Reads

Also video about her wedding dress. Why did the news report say probably white when it was white? They must have not done any research.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg3t5zMlkhg&feature=player_embedded
 
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