The more I'm reading for my whatchamacallit, the more I am beginning to realize that there was a stronger connection to Germany than Britain. Of course, I'm talking about King Kalakaua at this point. He's seems to have shared a close relationship with Prince Henry of Prussia when he came to the islands in 1879. Furthermore, we know that there were heavy German influences within the Court. Although the root of it, Hawaii, will always feel more British thanks to Kamehameha; even to this day. I believe more people have an underlying connection to England than America... I mean as you know what many say "We are not American!" But that's a whole other story.
Sure Emma and Victoria had a strong bond, as with other monarchs, and we know that Kamehameha the Great had strong admiration for and influenced by the British monarchy (specifically King George) and all things British on a whole, but the German connection seems be as equal to the British connection.
We know that Paul Isenberg was appointed noble by the House in 1872 as well as other German officials who had strong personal ties to the court such as Henry Bertalmann, Hermann Widemann, Henry Berger, and Fred Wundenberg to name a few.
Also, there were five Royal Hawaiian consulates in Germany: Bremen, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Dresden, and Karlsruhe. There were also consulates in Denmark, Sweden, and (shocking) Norway (since most Norwegians whined and complained when they emigrated to the Kingdom during the first wave a European contract laborers. They didn't work out because they didn't like living in the kingdom, which I believe was due to cultural differences, living conditions
hence climate, and so forth.)
When King Kalakaua toured Europe and visited the various European royal houses he made a strong connection with Germany. Interestingly, when he was in England, watching a parade of Victoria's troops at Windsor Park, the King had an experience with a man who rode up to him and said:
Your Majesty, I am the Crown Prince of Germany. I shall call upon you tomorrow; but permit me now to thank you for your hospitality to my son, Prince Henry, when he visited your kingdom. My father, the Emperor, is at Gastin, but you will be received, if you visit Berlin, by my son, Prince William.
*
Apparently Henry of Prussia, brother of William II, visited Kalakaua two years prior. So, the Crown Prince kept his word, and with all the pomp and glamour King Kalakaua was recieved and stayed for a few days at Potsdam; there were banquets, receptions, military parade and much more. Royalty at it's best from all the sources that I have been reading.
*William N. Armstrong, Around the World with a King (Cambridge, Mass.: The University Press, 1904), 80.