Name/Title
Princess Kaiulani Calling CardDescription
Kaiulani, Hawaiian Crown Princess, Lovely Signature
Provenance - University Archives Auction April 10, 2018, Lot #38
Kaʻiulani (Hawaiian pronunciation: [kə'ʔi.u.'lɐni]; Victoria Kawēkiu Kaʻiulani Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn; October 16, 1875 – March 6, 1899) was the only child of Princess Miriam Likelike, and the last heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Kaʻiulani was named after her maternal aunt Anna Kaʻiulani who died young, and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, whose help restored the sovereignty and independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom during the reign of Kamehameha III.[4][5
]From a young age, governesses and private tutors educated Kaʻiulani starting with a British woman, Marion Barnes, from 1879 until her early death of pneumonia in 1884,[40] and then an American woman, Gertrude Gardinier, who became her favorite governess.[24][41] After Gardinier's marriage in 1887, her governesses included a French woman, Catalina de Alcala or D'Acala, and a German woman, Miss Reiseberg, with whom Kaʻiulani did not develop as strong a bond.[42] Her governesses taught her reading, writing letters (often to relatives), music practices and social training. She also read biographies about her namesake, Queen Victoria.[41] She would become fluent in the Hawaiian, English, French and German languages.[43][44]
As heir apparent, Kaʻiulani had influence with the queen on political issues. In the fall of 1891, she wrote to Liliʻuokalani requesting the appointment of her father, instead of Prince David Kawānanakoa,[note 6] to the recently vacated governorship of Oahu caused by the death of Liliʻuokalani's husband John Owen Dominis.[92] The queen acceded to her request, and made the appointment of Cleghorn on November 11.[93] The princess also received approval for her father to retain his post as collector general after she explained, "we cannot do without his salary for that, as the salary of Governor is only half the other."[94][95] Kaʻiulani, looking forward to her return, promised, "When I come home I shall try to help you as much as I can, tho [sic] it will not be much as I don't understand State Affairs."[95]
Kaʻiulani learned of the overthrow via a short telegram received by Davies on January 30, "'Queen Deposed', 'Monarchy Abrogated', 'Break News to Princess'".[94] In the weeks after the overthrow, Davies wrote to the Hawaiian Minister to the United States John Mott-Smith in Washington suggesting that the Hawaiian electorate vote on a revised constitution for the abdication of the queen and for the placing Kaʻiulani under a council of regency headed by Dole. Davies reiterated this stance in a later address.[115] Davies advised Kaʻiulani to take her case directly to the American people.[116]
Prior to the 1893 overthrow, Kaʻiulani had been allocated an annual pension by the Hawaiian government. As a member of the royal family, she had received $5,000 annually from the civil list between 1882 and 1888, $4,800 between 1888 and 1892 and $10,000 as heir apparent to the throne in 1892.[128][129][77] Archibald Cleghorn had also been supported from the Hawaiian civil list through his governmental positions. These sources of income ended after the overthrow.[130][94][95]
Accustomed to the life of a Victorian society woman, Kaʻiulani preferred her new life. Writing to her father on June 10, 1894, she expressed her sadness at the change in Hawaii and asked him to consider a life abroad in Europe.[135] After the 1895 royalist counter-revolution, he agreed. While they were abroad, the news of the March 6, 1897, death of her half-sister Annie impacted both Kaʻiulani and Cleghorn.[136][137]
From August 1895 to October 1897, she and her father assumed the lives of itinerant aristocrats traveling across Europe and the British Isles. They stayed in the French Riviera, Paris, and on the island of Jersey, as well as England, and Scotland.[138][139][140] Kaʻiulani was treated as royalty in the French Riviera where they wintered each year and made friends, including Nevinson William (Toby) de Courcy, a British aristocrat who corresponded with her over the next three years and saved her letters until his death.[141][142]
Kaʻiulani and her father sailed from San Francisco on November 2 and arrived in Honolulu on the morning of November 9. Thousands of well-wishers, including her cousin Kawānanakoa, greeted her at the harbor in Honolulu and showered her with garlands of lei and flowers. They returned to ʻĀinahau where Kaʻiulani was to assume the life of a private citizen.[166][167] Her father had built a two-storied new Victorian-style mansion designed by architect Clinton Briggs Ripley next to the bungalow which had been her childhood home in the intervening years when she was abroad.[30][31] Despite her lack of political status, she continued to receive visitors and made public appearances at events hosted by both monarchists and supporters of the Republic.[166][168]
The annexation ceremony was held on August 12, 1898, at the former ʻIolani Palace, now being used as the executive building of the government. President Dole handed over "the sovereignty and public property of the Hawaiian Islands" to United States minister Harold M. Sewall. The flag of the Republic of Hawaii was lowered, and the flag of the United States was raised in its place.[171] "When the news of Annexation came it was bitterer than death to me," Kaʻiulani told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It was bad enough to lose the throne, but infinitely worse to have the flag go down ...".[172] Liliʻuokalani with Kaʻiulani, their family members and retainers boycotted the event and shuttered themselves away at Washington Place in mourning. Many Native Hawaiians and royalists followed suit and refused to attend the ceremony.[173][174] The Republican government attempted to invite her to the Annexation Ball, and she responded by saying, "Why don't you ask me if I am going to pull down Hawaii's flag for them?"[175]
Kaʻiulani traveled to the Parker Ranch at Waimea, on the island of Hawaii on December 6, 1898.[219] The ranch owner, Samuel Parker, had served on Kalākaua's privy council, and was Liliʻuokalani's minister of foreign affairs when the monarchy was overthrown. Kaʻiulani attended the December 14 wedding of Parker's daughter, who was her childhood friend Eva, to Frank Woods,[220] and stayed for Christmas festivities. The celebrations and activities went on for weeks. In mid-January 1899, Kaʻiulani and a number of other guests mounted horses and rode out for a picnic. What started out as pleasant weather soon turned into a windy rainstorm. While others on the ride donned raincoats, Kaʻiulani was gleefully galloping through the rain without a coat. It was not until later, when they were back on the ranch, that she began feeling ill.[221] Upon learning of her situation on January 24, her father sailed immediately to the island on the steamship Kinau. Their family physician, "Doctor Walters" (Saint David G. Walters), accompanied him.[222] After medical treatment, the public was told two weeks later that she was on the mend.[221]
However, Kaʻiulani was still frail, and her illness lingered. A petition to President William McKinley and Congress, urging the United States to grant the princess a pension, was being circulated for signatures.[223] In reality, she was still gravely ill, and Cleghorn brought her back to ʻĀinahau on February 9, on the steamship Mauna Loa. She was so ill she had to be carried on a stretcher. Walters said it was "inflammatory rheumatism". He later added that she also had an exophthalmic goitre.[223]
Kaʻiulani died of inflammatory rheumatism, at her home at ʻĀinahau, on Monday, March 6, 1899, at the age of 23. Later, George W. Macfarlane, a family friend and King Kalākaua's chamberlain, told a reporter from the San Francisco Call that the princess possibly died of a broken heart.[224] Kaʻiulani had loved peacocks, growing up around a flock originally belonging to her mother at ʻĀinahau. She would sometimes be called the "Peacock Princess".[225] Her beloved peacocks could be heard screaming in the night when she died.
Wikipedia reference nos.Created By
hawaiiancovers@gmail.comCreate Date
May 13, 2023Update Date
June 28, 2025
![For reference only: Kaʻiulani was a painter who enjoyed the company of other artists. While under Davies' guardianship, she sent some of her paintings of England home to Hawaii. When Kalakaua was ill in his final year, she sent a painting to cheer him up.[66] Her few surviving paintings are found in Hawaii.[190][191]
Wikipedia reference nos.](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/10756/ac9a66a0-1aca-11ee-9821-a916169c4064-vYAXXnN.lg@2x.jpg)
